Everything just fine

Wolfgang Augel*

In 2011 Wernesgrüner Brauerei from the Vogtland in Saxony, Germany, celebrated its 575th anniversary in its traditional brewery pub barn, with around 450 individuals from the world of politics, business, sport and the media, customers, sales partners and suppliers among its guests. The event was not only significant in its marking of 575 years of brewing tradition; it also focused on the pioneering measures which are to help secure the brewery's future. In the presence of minster president of Saxony Stanislaw Tillic the management of the brewery and the Bitburger Brewery Group gave the official go-ahead for the completion of a €25 million investment in a new production shop and new filling system.  The building now stands and the KHS line within, with a capacity of up to 50,000 glass bottles per hour, is running to everyone's utmost satisfaction. Says Dr. Marc Kusche, managing director of Wernesgrüner Brauerei, "With this great technical investment in the recent history of the Bitburger Brewery Group Wernesgrüner Brauerei is perfectly equipped for the future. We now have cutting-edge plant technology in operation which meets our exacting requirements for sustainable production." 

Part of the Bitburger Brewery Group

Wernesgrüner is one of the breweries with the richest tradition in Germany, with a history dating back to 1436 and the bestowal of brewing rights. Over the centuries Wernesgrün developed into a veritable brewing village, with no less than six breweries in the tiny town by the end of the 19th century. Only two proved resilient: Grenzquell Brauerei, owned by the Günnel family, and the Erste Wernesgrüner Aktienbrauerei or First Wernesgrün Brewing Corporation under the management of family Männel. Both were merged to form the state-run VEB Exportbierbrauerei Wernesgrün in 1974. After the reunification of Germany the company was renamed Wernesgrüner Brauerei AG and in 1994 it was privatized. Since 2002 Wernesgrüner has been a member of the Bitburger Brewery Group and thus belongs to a strong parent company with five breweries in five German federal states: Bitburger Brauerei, Köstritzer Schwarzbierbrauerei, König-Brauerei, Licher Privatbrauerei and Wernesgrüner Brauerei. One of the leading brewery groups in Germany, in 2012 the Bitburger Brewery Group realized sales of 7.5 million hectoliters of product.

*Sales Germany, KHS GmbH. Phone: +49 231 569 1635.

A pilsner legend

Approximately 750,000 hectoliters of this are attributable to the brewery in Wernesgrün, the majority clocked up by Wernesgrüner's pilsner beer. This is known locally as Pils Legende or the pilsner legend, one of the reasons being that this beer is the result of a brewing tradition which has been carefully upheld for many centuries. Another is perhaps because beer from Wernesgrün was awarded a gold medal quite early on at the Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin held in 1896. Or maybe as one of the first beer brands to be served on Lufthansa planes at the beginning of the 20th century was made in Wernesgrün and because in the 1920s Wernesgrüner beer was drunk on the famous Hapag-Lloyd Hamburg to America line. Even in the days of the German Democratic Republic Wernesgrüner pilsner was an exclusive beer brand and a popular trading commodity, jokingly called the Vogtland dollar. Dr. Kusche smiles. "Whatever the reason, our Wernesgrüner pilsner is still very much something of a legend which has consumers both young and old totally convinced." One of the characteristics of Wernesgrüner's Pils Legende is its remarkably light, clear color. Its taste can be described as having a subtle trace of hops with a harmonious bitterness. A high degree of fermentation gives it a gentle richness of flavor, light drinking sensation and easy digestibility. 

Wernesgrüner pilsner know to 95% of the population in former East Germany 

As you would expect of a legend, Wernesgrüner pilsner is very well known in the five federal states which used to constitute East Germany. According to surveys customer familiarity with the brand runs to an impressive 95%. This popularity has also helped boost sales of Wernesgrüner Lemon, launched in 2006 and recently renamed Wernesgrüner Radler or shandy, and Wernesgrüner's non-alcoholic beer, introduced in 2008. One point of note regarding Wernesgrüner's alcoholic-free brand is that according to a representative study by the German food retail trade in 2009 it was one of the three most successful new launches in the beer category, making its way into the top 10 of non-alcoholic beers in the east of Germany in its first year of sale. Wernesgrüner Alkoholfrei now holds about 5% of total sales at the brewery, with its shandy accounting for approximately 3%. "As with our pilsner, providing the best quality is also top priority for our shandy and non-alcoholic beer," comments Dr. Kusche. 

Chief distribution area is eastern Germany

As in the past Wernesgrüner's main area of distribution is the east of Germany where it's one of the five top-selling breweries, making about 85% of its overall sales in this part of the country. The core sales areas are Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, with around 10% of its beer destined for the west of Germany. 

Exports to over 20 countries 

Wernesgrüner exports approximately 5% of its total produce, making it one of the top 30 beer exporters in Germany. The main export countries are Canada, the USA and China. Within Europe the brewery is chiefly active in Italy, Great Britain, Spain and Hungary. In total the company supplies to over 20 countries on four continents, 

with the main channel of distribution for Wernesgrüner Brauerei the retail trade. This is responsible for 85% of sales, with the remaining 15% supplied to the hospitality trade. The distribution of containers matches this, with about 80% of the company's beer being filled into returnable glass bottles, the 0.5-liter long neck being the most popular. The brewery also uses 0.33-liter returnable long necks and racks about 12% of its beer in kegs. The 8% that's left is identically distributed between the PET bottle, 0.33-liter non-returnable glass bottles for export and the can. What's interesting here is that prior to the implementation of the new packaging directive in 2002 the Wernesgrüner brewery made almost 20% of its sales with the can. 

Tradition goes modern – also on the new glass line

Dr. Kusche tells us more. "Considering that we use a high percentage of returnable glass bottles, future-oriented filling and packaging technology is absolutely essential for Wernesgrüner Brauerei. On the one hand we decided to again invest in KHS technology because the technical equipment met our ideal specifications – and on the other because we've already had decades of excellent experience with our KHS line from 1992. The former CEO of Wernesgrüner, Dr. Bernd Schmidt, was largely instrumental in deciding on the replacement investment; he had first-hand experience of the now outmoded line throughout its entire service life."

Sustainability is writ large – largely thanks to the company's CHP

One major aspect of the new KHS line is that it's also convincing when it comes to the issue of sustainability. A combined heat and power plant or CHP directly coupled with the line is just one of the features that significantly helps to reduce the brewery's energy consumption. The CHP is a modular plant used to generate heat and electricity, where combustion engines drive the electricity generator. The electricity produced is used to power the drive technology for the production and supply systems, for example, as well as pumps, compressed air generators, cooling units and lighting. At the Wernesgrüner CHP waste heat from the electricity generator is destined for use in its process engineering, such as in the bottle washer, crate washer, flash pasteurizer and CIP system. Surplus thermal energy from the system can be used to heat offices, warehouses and recreation rooms. The higher total efficiency compared to a standard combination of local heating system plus central power plant results from the waste heat generated by electricity being used at source. Says Dr. Kusche, "The total efficiency of the primary energy used here is over 85%, whereas the usual yield is about 45%." The CHP in Wernesgrün is connected up to a heat storage tank which is 22 meters high and five meters wide. The tank is divided into zones which contain water kept at various temperatures. Depending on the situation, warm water is either fed to the line or retrieved from it and directed back into the storage tank. This system results in an optimum use of thermal energy. 

Entire brewing industry interested

We return to Dr. Kusche. "In coupling our central heat and power plant and our new line we've trodden a new path with KHS, one which has the entire brewing industry interested. In our opinion this system is extremely future proof. We're also showing how important acting responsibly towards the environment is to us. At the same time we're profiting from a full range of economic benefits."

New KHS line with many advantages

The new KHS line works in three-shift operation and has an output of up to 50,000 glass bottles per hour. At Wernesgrüner it processes 0.5 and 0.33-liter returnable long neck bottles and 0.33-liter non-returnable bottles for export which are packed into crates of 20 or 24. Once discharged from the KHS line the one-way containers packed into boxes enter a recrating system where they are turned into six packs. Changeover times on the KHS line have been optimized, with product and bottle changeovers taking around 30 minutes, and product, bottle and crate changeovers approximately one hour. The line has been designed to enable employees to work ergonomically in a low-noise environment, with an arena layout selected. The line can be easily operated by just four employees and affords excellent access from all sides. This means that materials can be very quickly introduced to and removed from the line. Maximum line hygiene is ensured by equipping all conveyors with an automatic internal belt sanitizing feature, for instance, which can be triggered section by section if required. There are several buffer tables incorporated into the line so that any brief machine downtimes can be bridged and noise levels kept low. The glass bottles are conveyed to the buffer tables with little pressure and noise, where they are distributed by separating the flow of containers in a zipper process past the tip of a permanently mounted diverter plow. The flow of bottles is automatically guided by specific control of the chains. Multiple drives ensure optimized scaling down of the conveying speed and a low-pressure and low-noise transfer of the glass bottles onto the buffer system discharge.

Virtual tour of the line first and foremost

Dr. Kusche is pleased. "I think that the line design is extremely successful. We feel that all of our requirements have been met. This is surely also partly thanks to the fact that KHS presented the planned line to us in 3D prior to us finally placing our order. This virtual tour of the line enabled us to get a feel for it and allowed us to optimize it further together with KHS."

As a turnkey supplier KHS not only includes filling and packaging technology in its 3D planning but also all peripheral equipment, such as the ventilation system, central washing station and noise protection cover. Wernesgrüner was thus able to see all details of its order in full. KHS makes use of what's known as a Powerwall for 3D viewing. With the help of 3D glasses and a fly stick viewers can enter and navigate through the virtual line as they require by pressing the function buttons and simultaneously moving the fly stick in the direction they wish. Wernesgrüner was therefore able to walk through the line, 'fly' over it and enjoy perfect panorama viewing, with the perspective changed by a simple movement of the head. For example, 3D viewing permits observers to quickly recognize the exact inclines and declines on conveyors, how high the bottle washer is compared to the other machines or where access to the line can be further improved. "We find it important that employees on the line always have the chance to see each other and give each other hand signals, for example," says Dr. Kusche. "In places where this wasn't quite as we wanted we often only had to make minimal changes to the machine positions to get a perfect result. All told, 3D viewing convinced us to make the purchase and gave us the security of investment we needed." 

Real machine just like the virtual machine 

The new KHS turkey line in Wernesgrün is now just the same as the virtual model seen in 3D and fits perfectly into the new building. Following the depalletizing process an Innopack PPZ unpacks the bottles from the returned crates. The Innopack PPZ is a twin-axis gantry robot that provides exceptional accessibility and ease of operation. It's extremely flexible and perfectly suitable for use as both a decrater and a crater, which is why Wernesgrüner decided to use not one but two Innopack PPZs. Another modern cyclic crater therefore handles the task of packing full bottles into prepared crates at the end of the KHS line. 

Fully automatic KHS format changing system on the crater and decrater 

To ensure speedy retooling of the crate and decrater when changing crate and bottle types, both Innopack PPZs are equipped with a fully automatic KHS format part changing system. What's special here is that a complete packing set is changed on screen at the press of a button. The only manual activities required are to disconnect the compressed air hose and electrical connectors from the previous packing set and connect them up to the newly installed one. This is done in a matter of seconds.

Excellent cleaning results with optimum use of energy and fresh water

While crates are passed to the crate washer, the decrated bottles go to the Innoclean SEM single-end bottle washer. Upstream of the main wash the bottles are given a high-pressure spray and presoaked. The integration of Triple-i-Drive equipment into the machine design ensures the shortest possible changeover times between different types of bottle. This disengages the cam races of the rotating and swinging motions in the bottle infeed and discharge, enabling the ideal cam race to be programmed for all types of bottles to be washed. If a new type of bottle is to be processed while the line is running, all that's required is a simple changeover at the push of a button. Triple-i-Drive technology also enables each bottle to be gently fed into the respective bottle cell, both cutting down on noise and costs for wear and maintenance. 

The patented energy-saving bottle carriers integrated into the Innoclean SEM optimize energy and fresh water usage. The advantage of the energy-saving carrier lies in the reduction of the carrier weight. The lower carrier mass also means that less heat and caustic are carried over, directly affecting the amount of energy and fresh water consumed. Just by using the energy-saving carrier alone the Wernesgrüner brewery saves up to 15% in heat and up to 20% percent in fresh water for the bottle washer. "This is another aspect that underlines the very sustainable design of our new line," states Dr. Kusche.

Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS for excellent service

Wernesgrüner Brauerei was one of the first breweries in the world to invest in the newly developed KHS Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS filler series, a  platform system fully constructed according to the principles of hygienic design. The Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS installed at Wernesgrüner thus has an open design with curves and slopes instead of corners and crevices. It doesn't have a front table. On the Innofill Glass platform the star columns and capper housing are connected by cross pipes with no flanges, secured with hygienic sealing systems on the exterior and equipped with servo or direct drives. These are located in protective star columns outside the hygiene area. Direct drives directly transmit the torque to the star wheels and cappers, thus doing away with the need for gears and couplings and helping to keep maintenance costs and the energy consumption low. Open gear wheels, cardan shafts, screw fittings in the hygiene area and lubrication are now a thing of the past; cables and lines are laid in the connecting pipes. All of the above aspects make the sanitizing of transfer stars, railings, guide profile sections and mounting components an extremely simple affair. 

Media is fed to the filler carousel through height-adjustable, hygienic pantograph joints with aseptic sealing systems. Very fast format part changing without the need for tools gives the Wernesgrüner brewery the short changeover times it requested. The use of a compact valve manifold is another great benefit of the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS. It only needs 50% of the space taken up by the classic valve manifold as the fittings here have been constructed vertically. This mode of construction also ensures that all fittings are very easy to access for servicing and inspection. 

The proven DRS-ZMS filling principle has been retained in essence in the Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS. The pressurizing process with inert gas is preceded by triple pre-evacuation and double CO2 purging. After pressurization the liquid valve opens and conducts the product over an aerodynamically optimized swirler to the inner walls of the bottle. This results in further improved, calm filling which ensures minimum oxygen pickup in the product.

High valve filling outputs are achieved during the fast filling phase in the uncritical, cylindrical part of the bottle. A slow filling phase takes place in the narrow bottle neck for exact fill level measurement, which is initiated by a probe signal. A pulse from the probe closes the liquid valve at the precise fill level. This is followed by pre-snifting and final snifting. Pressure-controlled snifting takes place with little foam. The filling process is carried out independently of speed. The filling phase setpoints and thus the fill levels for all valves can be changed centrally even during the filling process. Dr. Kusche remarks, "Being able to provide the best possible quality beer in the bottle and, in conjunction with this, having very low oxygen pickup in the product is extremely important to us. We feel we're excellently served by our Innofill Glass DRS-ZMS. The filler's hygiene concept also has us convinced. Compared to our former setup this really does mean less maintenance and lower costs for energy, water and detergents, which again does great justice to our efforts to act as sustainably as possible."

Award-winning KHS operator panel in use

Like the other machines on the line, the platform system is controlled by the multi-award-winning KHS operator panel (red dot award and iF award). The advantage of this particular panel is that it excellently combines ergonomics, navigation and design. The result is user-friendly machine operator prompting that makes use of buttons, colored graphics, easy-to-remember icons and interactive handling instructions, all of which are self-explanatory. The system is subdivided into several levels, thus providing access to varying degrees of viewing detail and different operating levels as the specific application requires.

Once they have been labeled, the filled bottles arrive at an Innopack PPZ crater which places the bottles into crates holding 20 or 24 containers and cleaned by the crate washer. The crates are then palletized. 

Great public interest in the new line

The new line was presented to the public for the first time during the brewery's festival in 2012. Visitors could watch the line in operation and the response was overwhelming, with several thousand festival-goers coming to watch their pilsner legend being bottled on the new machinery. "The great interest shown by the public again shows how strong the bond is between the people here in the region and Wernesgrüner Brauerei," Dr. Kusche says. "And it's our aim to strengthen this bond even more."

Wernesgrüner is doing a lot to encourage this. It's no coincidence that the brewery premises are a well-known attractive venue far beyond the state boundaries of Saxony. The threshing barn can hold as many as 1,000, with room for 200 guests in what's known as the smithy in the pigsty. Concerts, cabaret shows, vaudeville theater and many other events are frequent staged here, as well as a good number of open-air concerts. Wernesgrüner Brauerei also backs various sporting activities in the area, supporting Saxony's state sports association and acting as a cooperation partner to the Saxon football association, as sponsor to the Wernesgrüner Sachsenliga and as patron to other top clubs, such as SC Madgeburg, eastern Germany's top handball club.

Everything just fine

By way of conclusion, let's return to Dr. Kusche. "With all of our campaigns and actions we're showing that we're a brewery that's accessible to our consumers," he says, "and that tradition and state of the art perfectly complement one another here. Anyone who's sipped a Wernesgrüner Pils Legende bottled on one of the most modern pieces of plant equipment in Germany at our brewery pub and gazed out onto our historic courtyard with its dovecote and stables will confirm this. And we're also living up to our famous slogan 'Alles im grünen Bereich. Alles' [ed.: Everything in the green. Everything] which we coined in 2003 to describe our quality products, our sense of optimism, our good community, our respect for nature and our enjoyment of beer. We could also translate it as 'Everything's just fine at Wernesgrüner.' And I really mean everything."