straight away whether you've got a
Bordeaux wine or a Bourgogne.' A
brewer can give something extra to
his product in a bottle. More so than in
a can. Heineken has its own, re
cognisable bottle, whilst a can has a
standard format so that the consumer
has to look more carefully to pick out
the product on the shop shelves.
From a marketing point of view,
therefore, Heineken often prefers
Heineken beer to be in bottles be
cause this benefits the premium
image of the brand. And yet Mr
Soetens also sees some disadvantages
of bottles: 'Glass is obviously not the
perfect solution. It's always heavier
than cans and it's breakable. But in
my view those disadvantages do not
outweigh its great advantages.'
Contact
Heineken, says Soetens, is
Europe's biggest purchaser of beer
bottles. For Vereenigde Glasfabrieken
Heineken is one of its most important
customers. 'Of our total capacity, 65%
is destined for the production of beer
bottles. In Leerdam we have built a
furnace which produces solely for
Heineken', says Mr Soetens. It's there
fore not surprising that close contact
exists between the supplier and
Heineken.
'Heineken stimulates Vereenigde
Glasfabrieken to initiate new develop
ments by submitting their problems
and answers to us', explains Mr
Soetens. The weight of the export bot
tle is a good example of such an inno
vation: over the years Vereenigde
Glasfabrieken has succeeded in re
ducing that bottle's weight from 260 to
185 grams. At the same time the quali
ty of the actual glass had to be main
tained at the same high standard. This
weight reduction means a substantial
saving on transport costs for
Heineken.
The technical know-how for such
an operation is not always available
in-house at Vereenigde Glasfabrieken.
In such cases the factory uses the ser
vices of Owens-Brockway in the
United States. That glassworks serves
as a 'think tank' for Vereenigde Glas
fabrieken and sells its know-how.
Know-how which Vereenigde Glas
fabrieken (and Heineken) can use to
their best advantage.
T II K XV O II L I) O K II I I N E K K N
