Evolution in brewery software

In the brewing industry, the demand for consistent beer characteristics and taste all the time, despite variations in the quality of the raw materials, extends all the way through to the automation system: The new Version 7 of a renowned brewery process control system offers the same level of continuity, which fits seamlessly into the 35-year history of this system.

Honey, I think I’ll open a brewery

With almost 2800 craft breweries operating in 2013, up 15 percent over 2012, and perhaps 1700 more in various stages of planning, you’d have to be a real old miser to warn that this kind of growth cannot be sustainable. When Kim Jordan, the owner of New Belgium Brewery, predicted back in 2003 that craft beer will eventually garner 10 percent of the market – it had 3 percent then – Bob Weinberg, the eminent beer industry sage, retorted: “Not possible”. He obviously got it wrong.

Leading-edge brewing technology software

The requirements set out by Carlsberg for migration to a new process control system were clear and deliverable. The brief for the new automation solution at the Danish brewery in Fredericia was quite simple: make the complex production processes more transparent and safer, considerably improve user-friendliness and, naturally, implement it as quickly as possible – with a minimum amount of production downtime.

Will U.S. craft beer momentum continue?

When you’re on a roll you might as well roll, because it’s not going to last forever. You certainly don’t stop and take a picture. What a banal truism if ever there was one. But it captures well what’s happening in the U.S. right now. Ever since the controversial debate over “craft versus crafty” beers was kicked off last December, there has been a lot of beard-scratching and soul-searching by industry pundits, cranks and smarty pants over concerns that eventually the segment’s growth will reach the glass ceiling. The jury is still out if, or when, this will happen. Meanwhile, an always confident Charlie Papazian anticipates that by 2017 craft beers will have a 10 percent market share and at this point the momentum will take them past that.

Turning ideas into real beers

The main objective of the marketing departments of all companies is to increase sales and acquire market shares. Breweries are no exception to the rule. Acquiring market shares most often happens through launching new brands aiming to attract new customers who did not find existing brands appealing. It is not always easy to manage the development and launch of new beers. Indeed, the production of a new beer may involve the use of different raw materials, a change in the brewing temperature diagram, different kinds of yeast or a different fermentation diagram. Managing all of these parameters can turn into a nightmare for the brewer and cause a halt in the development of new beers.

Business strategies in the beverage market

For decades, the German beverage industry has been seriously affected by the stagnating demand for beverages, by over-capacities and by the resulting crowding-out and price competition. This situation requires integrated and complex strategies for handling both market and company, the objective being to create a clear profile for the enterprise. Such objectives should take into account the following factors: competitors and off-trade companies as key market drivers, the consumer target group and sales intermediaries as brand-relevant factors and lastly, internal and external resources as essential features for the creation and further development of a sustainable competitive advantage.

Customized automation concepts for breweries

Automation of brewing systems has advanced quite rapidly, and new innovations are constantly improving automation concepts. Kaspar Schulz provides experience-based solutions, where the user – not the system – is the nexus of development. Also, upgrading existing systems with modern components is no longer a matter of long downtimes.

Open heart surgery successful

The work accomplished by ProLeiT on behalf of Colombia’s Bavaria brewery can be best compared with open heart surgery on a top athlete performing under stress on an ergometer during the intervention. ProLeiT has successfully managed to gradually upgrade this large brewery with an annual production of around 11 million hectoliters, which is currently undergoing a capacity expansion, to the brewmaxx V8 process control system. This modern control system not only reduces the number of isolated solutions and optimizes process sequences, but also enables consistent tracking and tracing on the basis of its integrated MES functionality.

Making money with a conscience

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is nothing if not a mouthful. Multinational companies over-engage in a vast range of activities that come under the doing-good umbrella. It spans everything: from volunteering in the local community to looking after employees’ health, from giving out micro-credit to women in Bangladesh to saving the rainforests. With such a fuzzy, wide-ranging subject, many companies find it hard to know what to focus on. Still, CSR is booming. Whether through their websites or glossy reports, big multinationals want to tell the world they are good and ethical and their bosses right and reasonable. None of this means that CSR has suddenly become a great idea. But in practice few big companies can now afford to ignore it.