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
