9
Geographical breakdown of sales of beer
brewed under the supervision of
Heineken
(in millions of hectolitres)
was increased during the year under
review from 80% to 100%.
Once again new products and brands
were launched by the enterprise in 1987,
with a view to strengthening the existing
positions as much as possible or building
up new positions in all relevant markets.
In Taiwan Heineken beer was marketed
for the first time, whilst the Amstel brand
was introduced on the island of La
Réunion. In Rwanda the local brewing
of our French beer brand, Mützig, was
commenced. Tiger beer was launched
in Malaysia.
In the Netherlands, Amstel 1870 was
launched during the year under review;
Bokma Jonge Korenwijn was also intro
duced. Preparations were made for the
launching of Amstel Light.
Research and development
We make high demands on the quality
of our products. Therefore much attention
is paid to research and development.
These activities are aimed at improve
ment of the production processes, the
composition of the products and product
innovation.
As a result of the international spread of
activities the enterprise is confronted with
differing and changing legislation. Differ
ences in quality also occur in the case
of the agricultural raw materials. For
these reasons, high priority is attached
to the maintenance of a constant quality
of the products under different conditions.
In 1987 there was a slight increase in
research assigned to third parties. In the
Netherlands and elsewhere, there is also
co-operation with scientific institutions
with a view to effective and well-oriented
research.
During the year under review further pro
gress was also achieved in the field of
analytical techniques regarding the quality
and the taste of beer.
In recent years much research has been
done into the activity and the keeping
quality of yeast. Yeast is a perishable
product which is sent with great regularity
to subsidiaries and affiliated breweries
in refrigerated and compressed form.
The product is vitally important to the
manufacture of beer. A better control of
the fermentation process has also led to
a further enhancement of the quality of
compressed yeast, which is particularly
important in the case of long-distance
transport.
Heineken does a great deal of research
into the possibility of processing locally
grown cereals, such as sorghum, rice
and maize in the breweries in Africa,
whilst maintaining quality. The research
in this field made considerable progress
in 1987, particularly with regard to the
brewing equipment to be used for this
purpose.
In the brewery at 's-Hertogenbosch a
trial with a new control system has been
successfully completed on one of the
canning lines. The experiment formed
part of an extensive technical develop
ment project, the object of which is to
find a method of transporting cans and
bottles during the filling process which
will ensure that these means of packaging
hardly come into contact with each other.
This will make possible a drastic reduc
tion in the damage to bottles known as
'scuffing'.
Personnel
In 1987 the average number of em
ployees in our enterprise was 28,418,
compared with 28,749 in the previous
year. Particularly in Europe the number
of employees has declined following the
closure of obsolete production establish
ments in a number of countries. Once
again, efforts have been made to mini
mize the social consequences, amongst
other things by reassignment, retraining
and assistance in the finding of alternative
employment.
In the light of the rapid developments in
many different fields in our society, the
training and instruction of our personnel
at every level are of elementary import-
