acity expansion
nly at Patras
Sixty-six commercial employees of Murphy's Brewery trav
elled to Donegal some time ago for a three-day meeting under
the motto 'In search of excellence for the 1990s'.
Brewery in south of Greece most
suitable for growth
Four years ago the flags and bunting were put out at Athenian
Brewery. For the first time in its history the brewery had
achieved a production capacity of 2 million hectolitres. Mean
while the capacity has already climbed to 3 million hectolitres
and the end is not in sight yet. Plans for further expansions are
mainly focused on the brewery in Patras.
HEINEKEN INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE NR. 26PAGE 8
Commercial and production
meetings at Murphy's
Commercial director Rik Bart
de Jonge opened the conference by
thanking those present for their
efforts over the past year and by
unveiling the company's plans for
1990. There was also an attentive
audience for presentations by J.P.
McDonald, who described a
customer service survey, and by
Brian Freer, who talked about the
role of the draught beer representa
tive in the 'nineties. Other speeches
contained information on the pro
gress of Buckler in Ireland, the
market shares of the Murphy
brands, product quality, financial
matters and Heineken's position in
the world beer market.
In his closing speech at the meet
ing general manager Michael Foley
pinpointed the difficulties that lie
ahead in 1990. He stressed the
need for good communication,
higher sales figures and an im
proved profit margin.
Production
Three weeks later it was the turn
of the production workers at the
Cork brewery to attend the very
first 'Production Workshop' held
in the history of Murphy's Brew
ery. A Cork hotel was the scene of
the get-together attended by 95 em
ployees after production had been
closed down for the day. Quality
and customer service was the
theme of the meeting which
opened with a speech by Brian
Sarre, technical manager of Mur
phy's Brewery.
After explaining the importance
of the production department with
in the organisation as a whole, Mr
Sarre outlined what its respon
sibilities are. Mr Sarre made it clear
that quality control should not be
applied solely to the product itself.
Good quality assurance should
take priority in other aspects of
production as well.
Guest speakers Jan Beyerinck
and Rolf Lans had been invited by
Murphy's Brewery to give some
facts about the position of
Heineken on the world beer market
The commercial group at the sales
conference in Donegal.
and about Heineken's internation
al activities in the area of training
courses. Eamonn O'Sullivan ex
plained to his audience exactly how
crucial marketing is, paying special
attention to the marketing of Mur
phy's Stout.
The meeting was rounded off by
Michael Foley. He stressed the im
portant role that production plays
in customer service.
Production employees during the
Workshop.
18
Most of the expansions over the
next few years will take place in the
brewery at Patras.
For many years the brewery in
Athens has been shackled by a
shortage of space which rules out
any major extensions. Obviously,
renovation work is still carried out.
For instance, the brewhouse has
been renovated and automated and
in the current year the last cellar
with horizontal tanks will be re
placed by one with cylindrical-con
ical tanks.
The brewery in Thessaloniki was
Athenian Brewery's biggest until
last year. Following the extensions
at Patras this will no longer be the
case. Technical manager F. Scher
mers explains: 'Because of the
growth in the market served by the
Thessaloniki brewery the present
capacity will not be enough for the
next five years. So major expan
sions are needed.'
Patras
When the subject of expansion is
raised, Mr Schermers points to the
brewery in Patras. 'That's a fine
brewery with an excellent layout.
Besides, in Patras we've got enough
land to expand on. This year we
intend to install a new bottling line
and a new canning line. The bot
tling line will increase the filling ca
pacity; the new canning line is a
replacement investment.'
In addition, there was a consid
erable enlargement of tank storage
capacity in Patras last year. In the
near future brewing capacity at Pa
tras will have to be doubled. F.
Schermers believes that this will be
fairly simple to achieve without
any really drastic technical
changes.
No doubt about it, the brewery
in Patras has been a fast grower. In
1986, the year when Athenian
Brewery bought the Patras unit, it
had an output of 650,000 hec
tolitres. This year its capacity will
reach 1.5 million hectolitres and
Mr Schermer expects that in sever
al years' time that capacity will
have been increased again to two
million hectolitres.
Cheaper
No wonder that the manage
ment of Athenian Brewery chiefly
looks at Patras when considering
expansion plans. The most impor
tant sales region - Attica Province,
in which the capital city of Athens
is also located - can no longer be
supplied with beer by the brewery
in Athens. Major expansions are
not possible on the Athens site. The
brewery at Thessaloniki (in North
East Greece) is a long way away
from Athens. Beer delivery trucks
would need seven hours to get from
Thessaloniki to Athens. The brew
ery in Patras is only two hours'
drive from Athens.
Harbour
Patras also has the extra advan
tage of a good harbour. The brew
ery benefits from this for its sup
plies of malt. Though Athenian
Brewery does have its own malting
plants, these cannot fully meet the
demand from the breweries. To
make up the shortfall, Athenian
Brewery ships in malt from the Al
bert Malting Plant in Ruisbroek,
Belgium.
Since recently the method of
transporting malt to Patras has also
been changed. Schermers: 'Pre
viously malt was shipped in by con
tainer. But the quantities grew to
such a size that bulk transport be
came an attractive proposition. We
had a few trial shipments and those
were successful. So, we're now
switching over to bulk supplies by
ship'.
