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 6

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Heineken Contact | 1983 | | pagina 6