Investment in the full upgrade package

Günter Unkrig*

Katrin Goldhahn**

Within the Brau Union Österreich (Austrian Brewing Union) Brauerei Zipf from Upper Austria is known as the innovative brewery. In 1978 Zipfer was the first beer brand in Austria to be packaged in the practical six pack; in 2007 the brewery launched the flavored beer segment on its home market with Zipfer Lemon. The pioneering company also remains true to traditional beer culture, with master brewer Dr Günther Seeleitner only using water from the brewery's own well and malt and hops almost exclusively sourced from Austria for his Zipfer beer. Zipf's hop processing method is unique in Austria, with it using natural hops which are ground by hand directly prior to the brewing process. Says Dr Seeleitner, "At Zipf innovation and tradition basically go hand in hand, with us taking the best of both worlds for our brand beers." This creed also applies to the brewery's technical equipment, as demonstrated by its most recent investment in the conversion of a KHS single-end bottle washing machine from 1991, for instance. Dr Seeleitner explains. "Our bottle washer has worked perfectly up to now and we're extremely pleased with it. We thought, why replace it when we could profit from all the benefits of a new machine by simply upgrading it?" The conversion included the replacement of the bottle holders with energy-saving bottle carriers equipped with plastic bottle pockets, and the integration of a fresh water control and pump drive system into the cleaning concept. The existing controller was also replaced by a new controller (Siemens S7). Dr Seeleitner smiles. "The result is fantastic. We're saving water, caustic, additives, and energy, and are again taking the extremely important aspect of sustainability into account both at Zipf and within the Brau Union." 

Sales of about one million hectoliters

Brauerei Zipf was founded in 1858 by Viennese banker Franz Schaup. In Zipf he not only set up the brewery but also took on a farm, a mill, and a sawmill. He has left his mark on the village, both through his business enterprise and by acting on social issues, building workers' cottages and a school, for example. 

* Head of After Sales & Service, KHS GmbH, Dortmund, Germany. Phone: +49 231 569 1602

** Manager, KHS Austria GmbH, Wiener Neudorf. Phone: +43 2236 62510

In 1859 the brewery began by producing 1,500 hectoliters. By 1864 this had risen to 14,000 hectoliters, and had increased tenfold by 1914. Zipf hit the 200,000-hectoliter mark in time for its 100th anniversary. When in 1970 it merged with what was then Brau AG, now Brau Union Österreich AG, the annual output was almost 500,000 hectoliters. Today, Zipf produces about one million hectoliters of beer a year. 

One of the eight Brau Union breweries

This makes the company one of the five big breweries in the Brau Union, to which Göss and Puntigam (Styria), and Schwechat and Wieselburg (Lower Austria) also belong. The specialty breweries under the umbrella of the Brau Union are Schladming (Styria), Falkenstein (East Tyrol), and Kaltenhausen (Salzburg). With these eight breweries the Brau Union Österreich has a great impact on the Austrian beer market. In 2012 the entire association sold 4.55 million hectoliters within Austria,  meaning that the brewery group accounts for over half of the beer consumed here (8.54 million hectoliters). Among other things, this figure clearly demonstrates that the Austrians like their beer; at a per capita consumption of 107.7 liters in 2012 the Austrians held second place to the Czech Republic (145 liters per head). A study recently commissioned by the Brau Union revealed that beer is a subject that is close to the Austrian heart, with 92% of those asked considering beer to be a composite part of Austria's culture. Sixty-two percent said that they drank beer regularly. 

"A glass of bright joy"

One of Austria's most popular styles of beer is Märzen, a fact honored by the Zipf brewery. With a share of over 40% Märzen is the biggest product at Brauerei Zipf. This is closely followed by Urtyp. The Zipfer label also covers the following beer styles: Pils, Sparkling, two seasonal Bockbier specialties, Doppelgold, Kellerbier, Urtyp Medium, and a lime and an orange shandy.  They account for about 20% of the cake. Zipf's motto for all of its quality beers is: "Ein Glas heller Freude" ("A glass of bright joy"). Dr Seeleitner says, "This advertising slogan also describes what our beer looks like. With its light color we're demonstrating our great art of making beer, as insiders know that it's much harder to brew a tasty light beer than it is to make a good dark beer."

Zipfer brand complemented by Edelweiss wheat beer

In addition to its Zipfer beers (90% of the total sales) the brewery also has a wide range of wheat beers sold as the Edelweiss brand and accounting for the remaining 10%. These include Hefetrüb (a cloudy yeast beer), Hofbräu, Gamsbock, Dunkel, and an alcohol-free variety. The development of the latter Edelweiss beverage is an interesting one. Launched to market just two years ago, it very quickly had quite a following and now largely contributes to the rapid growth of the Edelweiss segment. Brauerei Zipf is particularly proud of the result of a test of non-alcoholic wheat beers carried out by the Austrian Gastro magazine just recently, where Edelweiss Alkoholfrei was the clear winner. "We're reckoning on our Edelweiss brand beers growing by about 20% this year," forecasts Dr Seeleitner, "with our non-alcoholic Edelweiss continuing to encourage this growth. After all, this alcohol-free beer is something very special and has consumers convinced with its successful combination of gentle roasting flavors, a complex note of caramel, a lively fruitiness reminiscent of ripe bananas, and a hint of prune. 

Countless awards affirm beer quality

The brewery usually wins many awards for its quality beers every year. In 2012 it received a gold medal for its Edelweiss Gamsbock at European Beer Star and a bronze for Edelweiss Dunkel. During the World Beer Cup 2012 Edelweiss Hefetrüb also took the bronze. At the Upper Austrian Culinarix competition last year Zipfer Urtyp, Zipfer Pils, and Edelweiss Hefetrüb all came home with a gold.

At home in Austria and throughout the world

Zipfer and Edelweiss beers are distributed throughout the whole of Austria, with the majority transported to outlets within a 100-km radius of the brewing plant. It also exports, with about 5% of Zipf's beers destined for outside Austria. The main takers are Italy and Hungary, but Zipfer beer is also shipped to Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Azerbaijan, Albania, Poland, Kazakhstan, Georgia, the Czech Republic, and even Japan and Israel. Says Dr Seeleitner, "With our exports we're acting like the Austrian market, seeing a slight increase here in 2012. In the future we intend to attach more importance to our export activities."

Sixty percent of all beer bottled in glass

Zipf is also echoing the trends on the Austrian market when it comes to its distribution of containers. The returnable glass bottle is – and always has been – the brewery's receptacle of choice, with 60% of all beer sold in glass returnables. Around 25% is attributable to kegged beer, and approximately 15% to beer in cans. Beer is occasionally filled into PET bottle for certain events but this percentage is negligible. The Zipf site is clearly a plant for returnable containers, and if required also helps out with bottling within the Brau Union. In return its sister breweries take on the filling of Zipfer beer into cans and PET. 

Innokeg Till Contikeg for 30 years and KHS bottle washing technology for 20 years 

The kegs at Brauerei Zipf are racked on an Innokeg Till Contikeg line from 1985. What's special here is that this is the second Innokeg Till Contikeg to have been sold on the market worldwide. Dr Seeleitner states, "The fact that our keg equipment has been giving us top racking results for almost 30 years speaks for the outstanding quality of KHS technology. Our KHS bottle washer from 1991 has been working just as reliably as the keg line. It's because we're so satisfied with our existing KHS technology that we deliberately decided to convert our bottle washer and not invest in a new machine. Looking at the increased sustainability and cost reductions this has given us, in retrospect we believe that we made just the right decision." 

Full conversion package for the single-end bottle washer

The single-end bottle washing machine has a capacity of 44,000 glass bottles per hour and currently sanitizes both 0.5 and 0.3-liter bottles. The decision was made to order the upgrade after talking to KHS. During the consultancy session KHS Service provided details as to precisely which upgrades were possible for the bottle washer, and how these would affect the amount of media and energy consumed by the machine. Dr Seeleitner was persuaded to invest. "All of KHS' suggestions were convincing, so we went ahead and ordered the full conversion package." 

First the mechanical and then the electrical upgrade

The full upgrade package was implemented in two stages. KHS first went to work on the machine's mechanics, replacing the bottle holders with energy-saving bottle carriers equipped with plastic bottle pockets, and integrating a fresh water control into the cleaning concept. In a second step a spray pump frequency control, the pump drive system, was fitted into the bottle washer, and the existing Siemens S5 controller removed to make room for a new Siemens S7.

Zipf was very careful in choosing when to convert the mechanics. "Our washing machine was due for service and a chain change anyway," explains Dr Seeleitner. "When the chain's changed, the bottle pockets also have to be removed and refitted. By combining servicing and mechanical conversion we saved ourselves the effort of dismantling and reinstalling parts and therefore also time and money." 

Energy-saving bottle carriers instead of carriers made of closed steel sheeting

The bottle carriers formerly in use at the Zipf brewery were made of steel and thus fairly heavy. KHS developed the energy-saving carrier to reduce weight. After making complicated calculations and performing many practical experiments KHS managed to cut down on the amount of material in the carrier side walls. In doing so the weight was reduced by around 25% to approximately 60 kg compared to the 80 kg or so of the conventional bottle carrier.  The energy-saving bottle carrier is capable of handling all conceivable loads in the bottle washer as well as the conventional, full steel version. 

Using energy-saving carriers also has a positive effect on the service life of the chain, with its load greatly minimized thanks to the decrease in the required pulling force. The motor load is also reduced.

The lower mass of the carrier and bottle pockets also cuts down on the heat and caustic carryover, which has a direct effect on the energy and fresh water consumption of the bottle washer. Other sustainable advantages include savings in caustic, an improved rinse-off of residual tensides, and optimized waste water parameters. 

Fresh water control included

Even more fresh water is saved by the bottle washer in operation at Zipf by a frequency-regulated, fresh water control unit. In the future the amount of fresh water required for spraying a particular bottle is automatically programmed on selection of the bottle program. Should the washer run more slowly for any reason, the fresh water control ensures that the amount of water provided is adjusted to match the speed of the machine. 

Considerable savings made

Dr Seeleitner is pleased. "The additional sustainability we had right after finishing phase one of the conversion fully justifies the upgrade." Before the upgrade the amount of fresh water used per bottle was about 340 ml; now only approximately 200 ml are needed per bottle. The consumption of caustic has also considerably dropped, with the caustic carryover reduced by 14.3 ml per bottle; instead of 1.5 liters of caustic per 1,000 bottles to be washed, only 0.8 liters of caustic are now needed. The same ratio of additives is also saved. The energy consumed has also fallen from 15 to 12 kw. According to Zipf's calculations, on the basis of the modernizations to their bottle washer alone the brewery will cut their water consumption by 14,000 m³ per year, their electricity consumption by 49,500 kWh, the amount of steam used by 560 metric tones, the use of NaOH by 97 tons, and the consumption of other chemicals by 17 tons. 

Passing on the benefits of upgrading

Dr Seeleitner passed on information about these savings to both the other breweries in the Brau Union and those in the Heineken Group. A special sustainability platform has been set up within the concern where companies can swap information and learn from one another. Dr Seeleitner says, "This is a great idea! The forum keeps us completely up to date on the various ways of boosting our environmental friendliness."

Brau Union practices sustainability on many different levels 

Various facts and data from 2012 illustrate just how important the issues of sustainable economy and protection of the environment are to the Brau Union Österreich. Within the group the consumption of electricity in 2012 fell by about 4.2% compared to the previous year. The specific heat consumption dropped by 0.8% – despite a harsh winter. Thanks to various investments the amount of water used per hectoliter of beer was minimized by 16%, with waste water figures reduced by 25%. The Brau Union also demonstrates the great significance sustainability holds for the association by presenting the brewery with the biggest improvement on the sustainability front and the most eco-friendly brewery in the union with an annual award.  One employee in the Union also receives a certificate each year for his or her special contribution to the aspect of sustainability. Looking at these various measures, it becomes obvious that here sustainability is a concept that is practiced to the full. 

Add-ons: the pump drive system and a new control unit

The effects of stage two of the bottle washer upgrade at Brauerei Zipf are proving equally sustainable. The second conversion phase centered on upgrading the electronics, which entailed retrofitting the pump drive system, with the aid of which the frequency control of the spray pumps is constantly geared towards the actual operational status of the bottle washer. Should the washer come to a standstill, the pumps are not switched off; instead their speeds are greatly reduced. This has the advantage that the bottle washer can be quickly restarted to reach nominal capacity. Savings here are fully dependable on the actual performance of the bottle washing machine. KHS tests have revealed that when the pump drive system is used, energy savings of up to 40% are quite feasible with centrifugal pumps.

As part of the electrical conversion package the existing control unit was also replaced by a new Siemens Simatic 7 controller, securing the availability of spare parts (electronic and drive technology) for the next 10 years. In addition, operational reliability is improved, as is the ease of operation. 

Open to new ideas on how to further increase sustainability

By way of conclusion, Dr Seeleitner says, "We're now perfectly equipped with our bottle washing technology upgrade, and will achieve a return on investment – as predicted by KHS and confirmed by our data – in around 3.2 years." Asked if Brauerei Zipf would be interested in future KHS upgrades which aim to further increase sustainability, Dr Seeleitner replies, "We're always open to new ideas on this subject." And that just about says it all.