Ibadan
THE WORLD OF HEINEKEN
Continued from page 23
that there will not be a job for everyone in the new brewery,
Kenneth Anisiobi senses a mood of excitement amongst the
personnel about the new brewery plans. "Some people are worried
and that is understandable, since they see that fewer personnel
will be required in the new brewery. But most people see it as a
sign of business growth and that, added to the fact that Heineken
now has a majority stake in Nigerian Breweries, gives most people
a feeling of security. They are proud to be associated with Heineken."
Ibadan, a city of three million inhabitants located one-and-a-half
hours by car from Lagos, is the home of the biggest brewery of
Nigerian Breweries with a capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres.
This brewery is facing the same problem as Enugu: enormous mar
ket demand and difficulties in meeting that demand. By contrast
with Enugu, this brewery does have room to expand. Nigerian
Breweries is investing substantially in expanding the capacity to
2 million hectolitres by modifying the brewhouse and by building a
new bottling hall, in which a brand new bottling line will be installed.
The German-made bottling line has a capacity of 30,000 bottles
(of 60 cl) per hour, which is equivalent to more than thirteen million
crates of Star or Gulder per year. The line is highly automated and
will therefore require fewer people. Several years ago the brewery
still had a workforce of 900. At the start of this year that number
had been reduced to 600 by not extending the contracts of
temporary workers. Head brewer Wale Adesanya expects that
ultimately fewer than 400 employees will operate the brewery.
"Those who are surplus to requirements will receive a bonus,
which is very high by Nigerian standards. We have seen that many
of them are using that money to set up their own little business."
