7 Zoeterwoude brewery rolls up its sleeves Stefan van de Berg again a world beater at regatta in Nassau Efficient and cost- saving computer network at Dreher-ltaly Alfred Heineken Tulip christened with brew water Closure of Amsterdam brewery: As will be known, the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam will close down in mid-1988. This will also have an impact on the brewery in Zoeterwoude. Not only will most of the Amsterdam personnel be transferred to Zoeterwoude, but some changes will also be needed within the brewery itself. In the early 'eighties the need for a new form of compu terised information supply made itself felt more and more at Birra Dreher. If you have to take decisions quickly, you need to have all information quickly to hand. The Dreher management decided to start using the Hewlett Packard computer networking system. Today, in 1987, the system still functions optimally and the specialists expect that the computer system will still meet the requirements in five years' time. In fact, the bulk of the Amsterdam brewery's output will have to be brewed in Zoeterwoude. A start has meanwhile been made on expand ing the capacity at Zoeterwoude. A new bottling line is being built. This super-modem line has a filling capacity of50,000 bottles an hour and will provisionally be used to bottle beer for the Dutch home market. In future the line may possibly also be used for export beer. Besides the new bottling line, an extra filter will be installed, whilst three new forklift trucks will be added to the fleet. The total investment amounts to more than 32 million guilders. Mr. H. Kloek, works manager at Heineken Zoeterwoude, explains the steps being taken to alleviate the consequences for personnel: "A great deal of care is being devoted to the transfer of the Amsterdam workforce to Zoeterwoude. We hold frequent talks to ensure that the right man will be given the right job. In Zoeter woude the vacancies are currently filled by contract labour. At the mo ment the brewery closes in Amster dam, our Amsterdam colleagues can start work in Zoeterwoude". To make the transition as smooth as possible, small teams have been formed in each Zoeterwoude depart ment to familiarise the newcomers and help them to settle in. At the Los Angeles Olympics three years ago he won a gold medal for his sensatio nal performances in the windsurfing eventsStefan van de Berg is his name and he hails from Holland. Some time ago, during the fourth Annual Bahamas Internati onal Windsurfer Regatta, he proved that he's still worthy of his title when he took first place in the final classification. The contests, organised by a Bahamas hotel, were co-sponsored by Heineken. The Olympic champion was photographed after the races. On a surfboard with a Heineken sail, of course! The tulip bulbs were planted out on the site of the Heineken brewery in Zoeterwoude on 17 November last year. By the beginning of May this year the yellow-and-white Alfred Heineken Tulips were in full bloom. And so it was time for the official baptism of this new tulip variety. Almost fifty tulips blossoming on the brewery site were baptised with a libation of brew water by Mr. Heineken personally. The Alfred Heineken Tulip will not be available in bigger quantities until the 1990s and Heineken has ordered a fair number of the bulbs. "Only then will we be able to use some of the tulips as, say, a gift to our business relations. And, who knows, perhaps in a number of years we can plant out a bed of Heineken Tulips at our branches throughout the world, just like here in Zoeterwoude", says Mr. Heineken. explains Mr. G.N. Giorgi, head of the computer department in Milan. The data for processing may relate to stock figures from the depots or details of the brewing process. "Each Dreher depot has its own terminal, so that stock levels and sales figures can be transmitted at very high speed to the brewery computer in Milan. The next day it is possible to read straight away from a print-out by the main computer in Milan what action needs to be taken", says Mr. Giorgi. The computers in the breweries are operated and controlled by a group of Dreher computer specialists in Milan. With the greatest of ease the figures can be displayed on the screen in Milan for, say, the stock of Heineken beer in the Brindisi depot in the south of Italy. But at the press of a few buttons the computer in Popoli can also be used to retrieve and display the figures for Pedavena on its monitor. The possibilities of the Dreher com puter system are countless. Not only details about sales and stocks can be processed. Information on produc tion, distribution and the purchase of raw materials can also be collated by the computer and transmitted to Milan. You might think that such an ad vanced system would cost the earth to run. But you'd be wrong. Mr. Giorgi: "Since we have no com puter specialists in the breweries and control everything centrally from Milan, the personnel costs are very low". Mr. G. N. Giorgi works in Milan and is head ofBirra Dreher's computer department. For a computer system a period of more than ten years is very long, as it is scarcely possible to keep abreast of the developments in this field. So, seven years ago, Dreher chose a system that was well ahead of its time, in Milan - where the Dreher head office is located - there is the central computer, which is linked to the computers in the breweries by a telephone line in the form of a circle. The link route is Milan - Macomer - Massafra - Popoli - Pedavena - Milan. For the S.P.A.I. brewery in Cagliari - in which Dreher acquired a majority holding last year - a sepa rate telephone line is used. "The great advantage of this system is that it allows each computer to be operated independently of the computer in Milan. If breakdowns occur in Milan, they have no effect on the other computers. They can simply continue processing the data",

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Heineken International Magazine | 1987 | | pagina 7