International journal's major feature Heineken's export operation was reviewed in detail by the magazine CONTAINERISATION INTER NATIONAL in a recent feature describing freighting in the brewing industry. The following is an abridged version of the article. Big Dutch daddy So to the big daddy of all the European beer shippers. Heineken Brouwerijen bv. Three years ago WGermany was leader, in volume terms, in beer exports from Europe, the Netherlands enjoying second place and Denmark the third. Provisional figures suggest that in 1978 the Nether lands moved to the top position, with W. Germany trailing behind in second. Of all Dutch beer exported during 1978, Heineken's production is estimated to have accounted for a staggering propor tion of 87%. A very substantial part of Heineken's European production is shipped to the US and from a figure of two million cases in 1966, sales rose to nearly 18.45 million cases, equivalent to 1.6 million hectolitres, in 1978. Target goal for the next financial year is 24 million cases. So popular is Heineken lager in the US that the company claims a market share of 44% of sales of imported beer. Heineken markets its lager beer in almost 170 areas around the world, and has interests in more than 50 breweries. Beer is produced at breweries within the Netherlands, and a visit to the giant Heineken brewery at 's-Hertogenbosch, which has an annual brewing capacity of five million hectolitres (about three million barrels), revealed how the con tainer has become an appendage of the production line, and the stuffing of containers, as with the whole shipping programme, conforms to the concept of feeding beer direct from the production line into the export distribution system. In view of the remarkable achievement of the Heineken export marketing and distribution effort during the past decade it is worthwhile to look at the methods by which the brewery administers its shipping operation. Developed over the years has been a system of programming all export orders, which has as its objective fast and simplified processing, enabling the Rotterdam shipping head quarters to maintain overall control of the whole operation, but leaving day-to-day operations to each brewery on a local basis. Each brewery has its own storage and internal handling division, and a separate forwarding section. Integrated right from the start, when export orders are received at Rotterdam, are production and shipping arrange ments, a process that does not end until beer is shipped and documentation is completed. On the basis of the production programme, space is booked by Rotter dam with a carrier 1 -2 weeks in advance of the anticipated stuffing date, a specified number of containers are reserved, and a booking-note number is henceforth carried forward on all documentation. Carriers and liner agents take good care to acquaint themselves with Heineken's future space requirements by close contact with the Rotterdam shipping department headquarters. Meanwhile the forwarding section at the brewery concerned is provided with a copy of the production order, bearing Heineken's export order number, the carrier's booking-note number, and full details of the vessel on which space has been booked, including receiving and sailing dates. Next stage in the process is for the brewery forwarding section to allocate a date and a precise time for arrival of each container at the brewery loading area. Right time please Made abundantly clear to this writer was that it is absolutely essential that containers arrive at precisely the time required, and bearing in mind that 's-Hertogenbosch alone processed almost 16,000 container movements in 1978 the point hardly needs elaborating. Just to emphasise the scale of movements, it is not unusual for a single consignment to consist of in excess of one hundred 40-footers. Dependent upon the prevailing close co operation between Rotterdam shipping headquarters, the forwarding sections inside the breweries, the production planners and the storage and handling divisions - which are responsible for stuffing containers - the entire process is geared to minimising the period between brewing of beer and its despatch. Relevant to marketing distribution is. a regular movement flow to markets like the US; this provides a fresh product for the consumer, and reduces the liability of stock being held in warehouses by distributors. In this sense the transit of beer whilst it is on the water is an integral part of the warehousing function. Heineken's breweries were deliberately built with a lack of storage space, the management holding the view that the business of a brewery is to brew beer and not to store it. Generally beer for the home and export markets moves out of what little space is available as a storage area within 48 hours of bottling, canning or barreling. Even the size of the loading area at 's-Hertogenbosch is difficult to 6 Heineken export operation reviewed

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Heineken Contact | 1980 | | pagina 6