System Integration & Control Systems Design


The brewery of the future

October 2021 System Integration & Control Systems Design

As a long-standing technology partner to Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABInBev), the world’s largest brewer, Siemens South Africa recently migrated Maluti Mountain Brewery (MMB) in Lesotho from an old automation system to a central control and monitoring station which combines the brewhouse and cellars.

Meeting current and future customer requirements quickly and with the highest quality is key to the food and beverage industry. ABInBev is a major beer manufacturer, and its brewers want to produce beers with consistent quality for their customers. The project, in partnership with Process Dynamics, a solution partner to Siemens, features continuous innovation with the Braumat system. The software was required to have virtualisation capability, recipe control and management, trend and alarm management, batch reporting and controlled access.

Kamohelo Semuli, brewery specialist at MMB, explains: “MMB is passionate about brewing and has a long tradition of craftsmanship in making superb beer from high-quality natural ingredients. However, fast changing recipes required us to learn new processes quickly, which proved challenging. While we are creating the ‘brewery of the future’, it is important for us to deliver according to our customers’ demands, with a fully transparent view of our production processes. The Siemens Braumat system enables this flexibility and efficiently manages the recipe and the process, minimises human intervention and reduces extract loss. Graphical recipe management, route control possibility, batch reporting, replay modes, efficiency, mobile working, etc. are essential for our brewery of the future goals. We are confident that the partnership with Siemens will be able to achieve this goal.”

Siemens is one of the leading technology suppliers to ABInBev globally. “With our long history of engagement with the brewing world, we are not only making it easier for the brewers to manage recipes, but also helping them to optimise on water and energy utilisation in the processes,” explains Munish Choudhary, vertical manager for food and beverage at Siemens South Africa.

Process Dynamics understands the requirements

Process Dynamics has previously been involved with MMB and hence understands the requirements for such a system in the brewing area. “We have provided a recipe driven system which supports brewing parameter control and monitoring,” explains Process Dynamics managing director, Kobus Van Niekerk. “All user operations are logged so any deviations from the recipe can be easily traced. By being able to analyse batch data, brewers can optimise recipes. We installed the latest Siemens PLC hardware, the S7-1500, but also utilised the existing Siemens PLC within a centralised control room.”

Flexibility, time-to-market, speed and quality are essential for the brewing industry. Recipe control is important, especially based on the changing taste of the customers, but also based on changing raw materials in the process.

“For more than 40 years, Braumat has been recognised as the standard for brewing and process automation,” says Sabine Dall’Omo, chief executive officer, Siemens Southern and Eastern Africa. “We are proud to have delivered on this project with ABInBEV. With our Digital Enterprise solutions and Braumat, Siemens can help beer manufacturers be more flexible and more efficient. Ultimately, digitalisation is ensuring that we can enable our customers to adapt quickly to market situations and demands to expand portfolios with the highest standards. With our industry-leading technology at Braumat, we can provide substantially higher performance and transparency in the brewing and beverage industry.”


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