Heineken Export must be
creative and results-orientated
Nostalgic farewell to Heineken's oldest brewery
Sales conference at Multi Bintang
Getting it all together meeting was instructive
Also farewell for 53 employees
The world around us is changing and Heineken cannot
afford to stand idly by and just watch it happen. All around
us we can see that companies which were once successful are
no longer a success today if they have not moved with their
times and adapted to the changed market.
Challenge
Discussion
On Friday 22 April the final curtain came down for the Hei
neken brewery at Amsterdam's Stadhouderskade. At the
same time - unique in Heineken's history - a farewell was said
to 53 employees who made use of a special early retirement
scheme at 57 Vi years of age. For them, too, "De Heinekens"
in Amsterdam is part of the past. Hundreds of (former) em
ployees got together in the brewery to say good-bye to their
53 retiring colleagues and to relive with them some nostalgic
recollections of the brewery's rich history.
Unfavourable location
Future
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 14
PAGE 7
Besides MBI's commercial and management staff, the conference par
ticipants also included the major Bir Bintang distributors in Indonesia and
Heineken employees L. Timmermans, Regional Marketing Manager,
and Th. de Man, Regional Technical Manager.
Indonesia is a land consisting of more than one thousand inhabited is
lands. Its population of more than 175 million comprises over 300 different
ethnic groups. The market for the sale of beer in Indonesia is not an easy
one. The Indonesian market is made up of many sub-markets, each with
its own unique character.
P.T. Multi Bintang is one of Heineken's operating companies and is In
donesia's biggest brewing group with breweries in Surabaya, Tangerang
and Medan. Amongst the beers brewed by Multi Bintang are Bir Bintang
and Tiger Beer. Green Sands Shandy has also been promoted by Multi
Bintang to become an important product.
Heineken's export department
should be no exception. Not lean
ing back and wallowing in the lux
ury of success. But adapting to
changes and - best of all - keeping
one step ahead of developments
(and also of our competitors) is the
watchword for the years ahead.
This message came through clearly
after two days of intensive listening,
discussing and brainstorming to
come up with new ideas for devel
oping Heineken's exports world
wide. The two-day conference was
called "Getting it all together" and
its aim was to strengthen the bond
of togetherness between all those
employed in the various Heineken
export departments.
The meeting started with a dinner
on a Sunday evening in February.
This informal gathering gave an op
portunity, where necessary, for the
participants to get to know each
other better. Those attending the
meeting included regional export
managers, area export managers,
export assistants and a number of
staff from Export ETA, Export
EFI, the Heineken sales offices in
Curasao, Belgium, Switzerland,
Singapore and Australia, and from
the duty-free department.
On Monday, 29 February Mr. J.
van der Zee, Director of Heineken
Export, opened the meeting with
a speech in which he underlined
the need to respond alertly to the
changing market: "We mustn't rest
on our laurels and revel in the suc
cess that we as Heineken enjoy all
over the world. We must take up
the gauntlet of each new challenge
if we are to make a lasting success of
our worldwide exports."
Creativity, good mutual co-oper
ation, alertness and openness are
the elements of a new élan which
needs to be developed, feels Mr.
Van der Zee. 'Getting it all to
gether' marked the beginning of a
new phase in our export strategy
and activities.
After a screening of the film 'A
passion for excellence', the partici
pants at the meeting were split up
into working groups. The subjects
discussed by the groups were:
People, Leadership, Innovation,
Customer Orientation, and the
'Thousand per cent factor' (focus
Mr. Van Schaik chaired the discussion on how
Heineken can outplace its competitors. Mr. Van der Zee makes his opening speech.
ing not just on one aspect within
the organisation, but aiming to
improve the organisation on all
fronts). The discussions yielded
several outstanding new ideas
which are currently being evaluated
as to their feasibility.
Subjects dealt with on the second
day included the specific aspects
and problems of exporting Heine
ken beer to Puerto Rico and the Ca
nary Islands. In addition, Professor
Paul Strebel, of IMEDE in Lau
sanne, gave a talk on how a com
pany can outpace the competition.
Executive Board member Mr. Van
Schaik then chaired the lively dis
cussion on ways in which Heineken
can keep ahead of its competitors.
In his closing speech Mr. Van der
Zee indicated that the 'Getting it all
together' meeting would be made
into an annual event.
Multi Bintang employees listen carefully to the plans for the near future, i en
Dedication and extra motivation are needed to meet the challenge of
keener competition. The became clear from the National Sales Confer
ence organised by Multi Bintang Indonesia (MBI) in Jakarta some time
ago. At the meeting all sales and marketing plans for the various regions
were presented and discussed.
G.J. van Soest, Managing Direc
tor of Heineken Nederland, re
called in his speech the brewery's
importance within the Amsterdam
community. "The Heineken brew
ery has grown to become part and
parcel of Amsterdam. It is an em
bodiment of Amsterdam just as
much as tulips, the Dam and the
Rijksmuseum; not only for the
Amsterdammers, but certainly also
for the hundreds of thousands of
foreign tourists. The closure of a
business that is almost a symbol of
Heineken in the world is surely
cause for pausing and reflecting for
a moment. For a moment, because
a healthy business like ours should
not only look back at its history and
perhaps shed a tear, but should set
its sights on the future and on guar
anteeing its healthy financial situa
tion."
It was known two years ago that
the Amsterdam brewery would
have to close. A thorough study of
the brewery's future prospects had
shown that its closure would im
prove the yield of Heineken-
Holland and would therefore
also guarantee continuity.
The study was conducted in the
light of the need for major replace
ment investments because of the
brewery's age. Those investments
would have cost at least eighty mil
lion guilders! The unfavourable lo
cation in the Amsterdam city centre
did not favour the brewery's con
tinuation either. Because of prob
lems with supplies and deliveries,
the shortage of space for possible
expansions and the far from ideal
traffic situation, it became neces
sary for economic and production
reasons to transfer the entire pro
duction to the breweries in Zoeter-
woude and 's-Hertogenbosch.
"Our basic principle for our Am
sterdam employees has always
been that there would be no com
pulsory redundancies. Upon trans
fer to our other units every possible
effort is made to place the person
nel in corresponding jobs. A num
ber of employees have opted for
early retirement under the 57 V2
scheme. And today we are, more or
less festively, also saying farewell to
that element of personal involve
ment in our history", said Mr. Van
Soest.
As to the building's future Mr.
Van Soest could give no news as
yet. "At the moment nothing defi
nite can be said about its ultimate
use. We shall be keeping a superb
reception possibility here for our
guests, that's for certain. As re
gards its other uses, we are still
holding discussions with various
parties", said Mr. Van Soest.
A lively crowd during the leaving party for 53 employees of the Amsterdam
brewery.
