Older employees
adapt well
Buckler cycling team
wants to be number one
r
Cycling fever at Dreher Massafra
APPOINTMENTS
Technical changes at Cagliari
When a brewery develops as quickly as the one in Cagliari,
the question that springs to mind is: how do older employees
experience these changes? Heineken International Magazine
had a chat with Pietro Zedda (50) and Luigi Mura (56). Both
of them have been working in the brewery for 25 years.
Raas has big sporting ambitions:
Advance expectations are
that a great deal of publicity
for Buckler will be generated
by its sponsoring of the cycle
racing team of Jan Raas. The
aim of the sponsorship is to
reach a brand awareness of
75% after three years in most
West European countries.
The strong line-up of Raas'
cycling team for next season
should give them good start
towards achieving that aim.
The sporting goal is also
ambitious: finishing in
number one spot in the con
test for the world cup. A
description of the team and
its plans for 1990.
PAGE 5
Luigi Mura first started working for the brewery in the bottling depart
ment a quarter of a century ago and he's been there ever since.
During all those years Pietro
Zedda has worked in the brew-
house. He gained his first brewing
experience in the old Ichnusa
brewery where the brewhouse was
initially operated manually, later
by a remote control system. Since
Birra Dreher acquired the brewery
he has been working in an electron
ically controlled brewhouse. The
next step will be computer-con-
trolled brewing. Zedda has never
found it difficult to get used to
these changes and he is still open
to new developments. And so he
does not see the arrival of the com
puter as a threat to his professional
skills. "The quality of the beer still
depends on the skills of the brewer.
I think these modernisations are all
splendid. When I look back to
twenty years ago, I can still see
myself making repairs in the
brewhouse, for we didn't have
a technical maintenance service
then. Nowadays I no longer need to
get my toolbox out and I can con
centrate fully on my actual work."
Breakdowns
Colleague Luigi Mura, who's
spent 25 years working in the bott
ling department, likewise had no
difficulties with the new equip
ment which was gradually
introduced into his department.
After a period of familiarisation he
knew the machines from top to bot
tom and back to front. "I didn't go
on any courses. My foreman
explained to me how the machines
work, and that was that," says
Mura laconically. He, too, sees
only benefits in the new machines.
"The equipment we used to have
was not top quality and there were
a lot of breakdowns. But we still
had to achieve our bottling target
for that day, and that often meant
working overtime. I'm pleased
that that's now a thing of the past."
Change-over
As regards the change-over from
SPAI Ichnusa to Birra Dreher,
Zedda and Mura have differing
views. Luigi Mura's words reveal
a slight touch of nostalgia: "Previ
ously it was one big family here at
work. I personally knew everyone
in the brewery. Today that's no
longer the case. In our department
we now have a lot of seasonal
workers in the summer and each
year they are different people. It's
all become a bit more impersonal."
Lor Zedda this argument doesn't
apply. "I've been working together
with the same team of people for
a very long time. The arrival of
Birra Dreher and Heineken made
me feel good. We're now part of an
international business." The same
feeling is also apparently shared by
Mura, despite his misgivings about
the bigger scale of the operation. It
offers them certainty about their
future.
Preference
Asked which beer he thinks
tastes best, Mura doesn't hesitate at
all: Ichnusa. Pietro Zedda has no
clear preference. He appreciates
a whole range of different beers,
but makes it clear that a glass of
water can often taste really good as
well. A few years ago he defini
tively switched from beer to water.
"It's healthy and it tastes good."
Pietro Zedda has worked in the brewhouse of Birra Ichnusa for 25 years.
The composition of the Buckler
team holds out much promise for
gaining the above title. Raas has
put together an all-round team with
the emphasis on chances of wins in
the one-day classics and the stage
races. Big names like Jelle Nij-
dam. Trans Maassen, Rolf Gölz,
Eric Vanderaerden and Peter Win
nen head the list. The team further
consists of Tom Cordes, Labian
Luchs, Peter Gansler, Edwig and
Gino van Hooydonck, M. van der
Hulst, Ludo de Keulenaer, Jan
Mattheus, Toine Poels, Noel
Segers, Gerrit Solleveld, Patrick
Tolhoek, Wiebren Veenstra, Gerrit
de Vries and (as from 1st May
1990) Martin Kokkelkoren. Eleven
Dutchmen, six Belgians, two Ger
mans and one Swiss dedicated to
taking the Buckler team right to the
top next season.
Stage wins
The twenty racing cyclists have
a heavy season ahead of them. The
emphasis is on the one-day clas
sics, stage races and the Tour de
France.
The Giro in Italy and the Vuelta in
Spain have not been included in the
1990 programme, as the Buckler
team plans to make the best possi
ble showing during the main event
of the year: the Tour de France.
There, stage successes can be
achieved by speedy sprinter Eric
Vanderaerden, by specialist time
trialist Jelle Nijdam (who, inciden
tally, also booked good results in
Jan Raas, manager of the Buckler
cycling team.
the mass sprint finishes last sea
son) and by Rolf Gölz and Frans
Maassen.
The Buckler team will be in
action in the following classics:
Milan - San Remo, the Tour of
Flanders, Paris - Roubaix, Liège -
Bastogne - Liège, Amstel Gold
Race, Wincanton Classic, San
Sebastian - San Sebastian, the
championship of Ziirich, the Grand
Prix de la Libération, the Canadian
Grand Prix, Paris -Tours, the Tour
of Lombardy and, of course, the
world championship. The season
gets off to an early start on 6th
February with the Ruta del Sol in
Spain.
Tour de France
Cycle racing offers Buckler
a unique chance to build up brand
awareness. In the rankings of the
most televised sports in Europe,
cycling proudly occupies third
place. The Tour de France is the
most popular cycling event of the
year. The public interest it attracts
can be compared with that for
Wimbledon fortnight and Euro
pean soccer cup finals. One
hundred and forty TV stations
throughout the world devote 325
hours of broadcasting time to the
Tour. One hundred and sixty mil
lion viewers watch it in 72 coun
tries and as many as 650 journalists
actively follow the Tour 'caravan'.
In the next issue of Heineken
International Magazine we will be
keeping you up to date with the
latest developments and telling you
more background details about this
major sponsorship deal.
In Massafra the sport of cycle
racing has been rediscovered. The
'fever' has spread like wildfire
since local rider Prozio Vitantonio
proved he had the makings of
a true champion. The Birra Dreher
sports club in Massafra has also
been gripped by cycling fever and
a group of about twenty sports lov
ers (see photo) recently mounted
their racing bikes for their first
100-kilometre tour. The enthusias
tic reactions to the tour make it
seem likely that they'll be getting
on their bikes a lot more often in
future.
Mr. F. Versteeg, currently head
of Home Consumption at Heine
ken Nederland, has been appointed
general manager of the Common
wealth Brewery in the Bahamas.
He will be taking up his new post
on 1st January. He succeeds
Mr. Y. van der Krieke who is
returning to the Netherlands and
taking over the post of project
leader Asia/Australia/Oceania. The
present project leader Asia/
Australia/Oceania, Mr. M. Egeler,
will become the new head of Home
Consumption at Heineken Neder
land.
Mr. B.W. Drost will be leaving
Heineken on 1st February on reach
ing retirement age. Appointed as
his successor as manager corporate
research in the corporate technol
ogy, research engineering
department is Mr. J.B.R.
Schwietert. His present post as
manager of the development
department will be temporarily
filled by Mr. R. van Berg with
effect from the same date.
K. Verduin, until recently opera
tions controller at Zambia Brewer
ies Ltd., has been appointed man
aging director technical of Nige
rian Breweries Ltd. in Nigeria with
effect from 12th December. He
succeeds Mr. F.H. Schermer who
will take over as the new technical
manager of Athenian Brewery
S.A. on 1st January. W. Kool, pre
viously account manager for
Africa and the Middle East, will
replace Mr. Verduin in Zambia.
