Bralima Zaire ready
for the year 2000
(f
W. van Ingen
spreads his wings
First stepmodernisation of Kinshasa
brewery
I
Now also international
building advice
Bralima Brewery has been working hard on a thorough
modernisation of its brewery in Kinshasa. 'La brasserie de
l'an deux mille' ('The brewery of the year 2000') was the
slogan used to present Bralima's modern image to the public
at the end of March. As proof of Bralima's forward-looking
policy the newly designed Primus beer was introduced on 31
March. The bottles with the ceramic brand name were replac
ed after 65 years by bottles with printed labels. The brewery's
futuristic image holds tremendous appeal for the Zaïrese
population. This is reflected in the country's bars where many
customers do not ask for Primus but for a 'deux mille' ('two
thousand').
Modernisation
Label
Lead
This year Mr. W. van Ingen of Heineken's Civil Engi
neering Bureau has hardly any domestic assignments on
his desk. Giving advice on, planning and supervising the
rebuilding and refitting of hotels, restaurants and bars in
Holland form no part of his work for the present. Mr.
Van Ingen is looking across the borders this year and
helping to develop activities for Heineken international
ly. He has already gained experience in this field with
the bars project in the Soviet Union. That involved the
construction of twelve Heineken bars in Intourist hotels
in Moscow, Leningrad, Tallin, Yalta, Sotchi and Surdal.
Small advice jobs
The future
PAGE 4
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 14
Messrs. H.F.M. Coebergh,
member of the Executive Board of
Heineken N.V., J.B.H.M. Beks,
Director of Corporate Economic/
Financial and Information Affairs,
J.W. den Hond, Regional Director
Africa of Heineken N.V., J. Siert-
sema, General Manager of Ibecor
S.A., and A.J. Kruidenier, Ad-
ministrateur-délégué of Bralima
S.A., welcomed more than three
hundred guests during the festive
opening of the modernised brewery
in Kinshasa on 31 March. The
guests included Mr. Mokonda Bon-
za, Minister of Economy and In
dustry, who represented Marshal
Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire's presi
dent. Mr. Mokonda Bonza was
asked to cut a ribbon to symbolise
the brewery's official inauguration.
The modernisation of the brew
ery in Kinshasa is unique for Cen
tral Africa. Recently, twelve new
stainless steel apollo tanks were in
stalled for fermentation and stor
age. Each apollo has a capacity of
2,500 hectolitres and is sixteen me
tres high.
Bralima has also invested in two
labelling machines, each capable of
handling 24,000 bottles an hour.
More than 300guests in Kinshasa are
addressed by Mr. H.F.M. Coebergh,
of the Heineken N.V. Executive
Board.
Other new additions are the filter
plant with an hourly capacity of
30,000 litres of beer, a brew water
installation, and three yeast storage
tanks holding 120 hectolitres each.
The bottle washing machine was
also modified to handle labelled
bottles.
The replacement of the ceramic-
branded bottles by bottles with
printed labels forms only one part
of the total renewal programme.
The conversion operation is partic
ularly extensive, with some 10 to 12
million bottles in circulation in the
Kinshasa region alone. All of them
have to be replaced. With the aid of
a computer program it has been cal
culated that all the old bottles in the
Kinshasa region can be replaced
within the space of one year.
Bralima's four other breweries
will be introducing the printed-
label bottle at a later stage. One
reason for this phased introduction
is the sheer size of the country. As
the crow flies, the distance from
Kinshasa in the extreme west of
Zaïre to Bukavu in the extreme
east is as much as 2,000 kilometres!
Heavy transport between two
towns can take as long as six
months!
All these innovations have trans
formed Brahma Kinshasa into 'the
brewery of the year 2000'. Bralima
is not only moving with its times but
is even taking the lead. The popula
tion, learning about the modernisa
tion from reports in newspapers
and on television, is responding
with enthusiasm. Bralima's initia
tive can be seen as a major contri
bution to the country's develop
ment and to the personal develop
ment of its inhabitants.
In Zaire the beer of the 21st cen
tury is already on the market today.
Ask anyone in Zaïre, and they'll be
proud to confirm.
The 12 new apollos with a capacity of2,500 hectolitres each.
4'
I
This year Mr. W. van Ingen is mainly concentrating on activities
abroad.
On 1 April 1972 Mr. Van In
gen joined Heineken Neder
land. As an employee of the
Civil Engineering Consultancy
Bureau he was initially in charge
of maintenance work for Heine
ken hotels, restaurants and
bars. Gradually his range of du
ties expanded and he became in
volved more and more in the
building, rebuilding and fitting
out of catering establishments.
Before starting his career with
Heineken, Mr. Van Ingen had
completed his civil engineering
studies and had gained 12 years
of experience in utilities buil
ding (partly years spent working
abroad). No training course for
'hotel and restaurant architect'
exists in the Netherlands, so the
question is: how do you learn it?
"By having a feeling for it, by
drawing on the know-how of
your colleagues and from per
sonal on-the-job experience.
Don't forget that the Civil Engi
neering Bureau has been in ex
istence for thirty years. Over the
years it has built up an enor
mous collection of know-how
and expertise", explains Mr.
VanIngen.
The Civil Engineering Bureau
receives more than 2,100 re
quests for advice from the com
mercial sector each year. These
are known as the 'small advice
jobs' in which the consultant
takes a detailed look at the
problem and issues his recom
mendation in the form of a re
port and/or an outline sketch.
About 900 of these recommen
dations require more time and
effort and develop into 'follow-
up assignments'. These usually
relate to bigger and longer-term
projects in the areas of rebuild
ing and new building, fitting
out, organisation and project
monitoring.
In the past few years the ad
vice of the Civil Engineering
Consultancy Bureau has also
been sought more and more for
projects across the border. Be
sides its work in the Soviet
Union, the Bureau was called in
to handle projects in Tenerife,
Agde, Belgium and London.
Mr. Van Ingen hopes in the
coming years to be able to con
centrate on the provision of ad
vice and the realisation of pro
jects abroad. "Our basic policy
is that our efforts have to make
a positive contribution to the
sales results and/or to the Hei
neken image. That's why our as
sistance should always be called
in by Corporate", believes Mr.
Van Ingen, who feels that uti
lising the specific know-how
available within the Bureau can
make a useful contribution in a
number of cases.
Meanwhile he is busy at work
on the new Holland Village pro
ject at Nagasaki in Japan. (For
more details see this February's
issue of Heineken International
Magazine). For this very ambi
tious project, called "Huis ten
Bosch", Mr. Van Ingen has de
veloped a number of plans
which, to judge by initial reac
tions, have been favourably re
ceived. He is therefore optimis
tic about the project's success.
