Intelligent reuseable container systems for the beverage industry

Smart kegs | Each year, billions of reuseable transport containers are in circulation the world over. Tracking and managing beverage barrels, known as ‘Kegs’, is a key challenge in the beverage industry. Modern kegs made of stainless steel can be used for an average of 30 years. However, every year between three and seven percent are lost through negligence and theft. Here, the use of digital technology can help to detect losses early on.

Logistics for ‘green gold’

Global service provider | In the last thirty years, with its wealth of expertise family business Schwarz Logistik in Nuremberg has earned itself an excellent reputation in hop logistics and in the transportation, storage and import and export of hop products. To mark its 40th anniversary, BRAUWELT talked to managing director Susanne Schwarz and her husband Christian Schwarz-Baumann, the man responsible for hops at Schwarz Logistik.

Industry 4.0 solution for reducing keg losses

Asset control | Like all breweries today, BGI Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has been continuously facing significant financial losses related to the loss of their kegs. To resolve the problem, they engaged experts in breweries automation from Montelektro and their partners from 8Sigma, whose expertise is developing Manufacturing Execution System (MES) and similar Industry 4.0 solutions.

Powder and bulk handling in breweries

From taproom to retail | With over 8000 craft and independent breweries now in the US, and macro brewers attempting to protect their market share, the growth in competing beer brands has exceeded the growth in consumer dollars available to purchase them. Resulting financial pressures, exacerbated by the effects of COVID-19 and the waning novelty of craft beers, have forced many microbreweries to shut down. However, more retailers now offer craft beers to their customers alongside macro brews, giving savvy microbreweries an opportunity to move into retail sales. The process that produced a hundred barrels will require a radical upgrade to produce thousands of barrels, including new methods of moving bulk ingredients to and from each step of the brewing process.

Fully-automatic empties sorting system sets standards

Mammoth project | In 2019 one of the most powerful and complex sorting systems in Europe went into operation in Bremen, Germany. With a rated output of 4500 crates per hour and seven sorting streams in an area of around 3000 m², it was a mammoth project for BMS Maschinenfabrik GmbH from Pfatter, also in Germany.

Smart Facotry | Sidel, Parma, Italy, and Elettric80, Viano, Italy, have started a strategic alliance to provide comprehensive services ranging from production to warehouse, distribution centre and logistics management for beverage and food, home and personal care (FHPC) producers. Both companies will act as a one-stop source, allowing producers to become more flexible, safe and sustainable with Smart Factory tailored solutions.

Survey | A current study deals with how widespread software tools in supply chain management are in the food industry. Take part in the online survey.

USA | Shipping beer and glass over long distances scores poorly on sustainability. Rabobank analyst Francois Sonneville favours a hybrid model, inspired by the wine industry, whereby beer is produced in the country of origin, shipped in bulk, and bottled in the market.

For years, the beer industry has been challenged with keeping track of keg assets, aware that distance from the brewery increases the likelihood of losing expensive stainless steel kegs. Market expansion becomes a more expensive proposition when one factors in the cost of lost or stolen kegs.

Uniting work and lifestyle

Matching kegs | People are sure to sit up and notice when an old, decommissioned factory, formerly of major regional significance, is converted into a brewery. Ecological sustainability is an added factor when only high-quality products and ingredients from the surrounding area are used for beer production. This reflects the self-perception and corporate identity of Hordeum brewery in Novara, Piedmont, Italy. Regional craft beers are brewed there at a capacity of 1500 hl.

Climate change? Then let’s have more of it if it helps German brewers hike sales. However, brewers are desperate. Unforeseen demand has caused a shortage of empties in the market.

At the Beverage Forum in Chicago in April 2018, there was already angsty talk of a shortage of truck drivers, hampering brewers and wholesalers’ ability to get their products into consumers’ hands on time.