They make sure that
the best stays the best
Controlling the quality of our products
Heineken beer has been sold for many
years all over the world and one of the
principal reasons for this success is its
constant quality. How do you keep your
beer in the top category when it is not made
in one brewery, not in one country, but in
the most widely dispersed areas, with
varying climates, and by completely
different people? Though it's not easy it
can be done. thanks to the Quality
Control Section which acts as a watchdog,
not only over the Heineken brand but also
over all products made by us or our
partners anywhere in the world.
How do you go about this? If you have only
one plant whose quality you want to
control you can best do this by taking
regular samples and by checking to ensure
that the product complies with the set
requirements during the entire production
process. But what should you do when the
plants are thousands of miles apart and
when production is done in completely
different locations? The answer is simple:
you do exactly the same. Which means that
you check continuously and step in when
something has gone wrong or threatens to
go wrong. This cannot be done by a central
department in Holland, but is the
Malt analysis equipment.
responsibility of the quality controllers at
the local breweries, assisted by a staff
department at Zoeterwoude. This
department does everything to help our
brewers abroad to keep up the high
standards set for our beer and other drinks.
So not every brew is checked in
Zoeterwoude, but a sample of the beer
brewed in each brewery arrives each
month and is subjected to an examination
which leaves no doubt as to its quality. But
each month's airfreighted samples from,
say, New Guinea, Zaire, South Korea or
Surinam do not comprise just one bottle of
beer. No, each production unit sends a
carton of cans and a keg, so that these can
all be efficiently and painstakingly
checked.
Standards
To say that the beer must have a certain
taste and appearance and contain a certain
amount of alcohol if it is to meet the set
standards is simplifying things somewhat.
Right from the very start of the production
process you must also take every
precaution to ensure that nothing can go
wrong. This is why the Quality Control
Section issues standards which the raw
materials have to meet, for instance before
All productsand not just beer, are regularly
checked.
being used for brewing. The suppliers of
our raw materials, who are spread all over
the world, soon know that we stringently
check the goods they supply. So they will
be wary about supplying goods of inferior
quality, realizing all too well that these will
be returned. The outcome of this
examination of the raw materials is put
down on paper for every production unit,
and all these data are collected and
examined centrally in Zoeterwoude.
This is only the beginning. The actual
production of the various types of beer
brewed under Heineken supervision is laid
down in recipes which indicate precisely
how long the mashing, clarification,
boiling, fermentation and so on have to last
and the exact steps that have to be taken in
each process. Does this mean, then, that
every production unit brewing Heineken
Pilsener beer gets the same book of
recipes? No, because not all the breweries
use exactly the same machines or work in
the same climate. The warmer a region is
the more difficult it is to brew beer of a
uniform quality and to maintain that high
quality not only as far as the factory gate
but also until the very moment when the
consumer raises the beer glass to his lips.
Heineken must also be sure that its beer
will keep well after it has left the brewery,
and this is often the most difficult aspect of
endeavouring always to supply only one
quality of beer. In your own factory you
know what happens to your product but,
once it's outside, it may be left standing in
the sun or be exposed to frost. To a certain
extent it ought to be able to withstand such
treatment, but our customers would do
well to bear such risks to quality in mind.
The preparation method and the
equipment used may vary, but the product
ultimately supplied, whether it be
Heineken or Amstel beer or Green Sands
Shandy, must always have the same
characteristics and must therefore have the
same taste as well.
Since beer is a natural product, things
cannot be expected to run smoothly all the
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