"Premium technology for premium beer"

Lubomir Neubauer*

Budweiser Budvar brewery is one of the best known breweries in the Czech Republic and also a big name internationally.  It's also the only brewery in the country owned by the state. According to Petr Samec, PR manager at Budweiser Budvar"What's especially important to us is our clear principle of maintaining our premium beer quality – as we have done for centuries," claims Samec. "Our great flexibility is another great plus point, enabling us to react to consumer demands very fast." The most recent example of this can be found in the plant's technology; Budweiser Budvar has recognized the great growth potential the can holds on both a national and international scale, which is why it decided to invest in a new canning line. Adam Brož, the master brewer and director of production and technology at Budweiser Budvar, explains. "We carefully scrutinized the market to see which technical systems in this segment would match our high specifications. Once again we opted for KHS. With our new KHS turnkey canning line we're in completely safe hands as far as flexibility, retaining our top product quality, and adhering to sustainable issues are concerned." State celebrities of note also showed themselves to be convinced at the opening ceremony, with none other than the Czech state president Václav Klaus in attendance. Others who were present include Martin Kuba, the minister of trade and industry, Jiři Zimola, governor of the Region of South Bohemia, Juraj Thoma, mayor of  České Budějovice, and František Šámal, chairman of the Czech Beer and Malt Association. 

A success right from the start

The Budweiser Budvar brewery was founded in 1895 as the Tschechische Brau AG or Czech Joint Stock Brewery. In 1896 it produced 35,000 hectoliters of product, leaving its strong competition floundering and earning a gold medal at the Prague Exhibition for its top-quality beer for the first time. In 1897 the first beer was exported to Austria, with Italy soon to follow; in 1906 exports to the USA began. Another important milestone in the brewery's history was entering Budvar as a registered trademark in 1930. 

Manager of the KHS office in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, KHS GmbH, České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Phone: +420 3855 15102.

The name was soon equated with quality. Today the brewery owns 380 trademarks which are registered in 101 countries. The best-known of these are Budweiser, Budvar, Budweiser Budvar, Bud, Budějovický Budvar, and Czechvar. Part of the South Bohemian Brewery Group since 1948, Budweiser Budvar has been fully independent again since 1991, illustrated by rapidly rising sales and export figures. 

Turnover in 2012: 1.34 million hectoliters

In 1991 the brewery output around 500,000 hectoliters of beer; in 1996 this figure overshot the one million mark. In 2012, despite a significant drop in the consumption of beer on the Czech market between 2008 and 2010, Budweiser Budvar produced 1.34 million hectoliters of its acclaimed brew. 

Fourth-largest brewery in the Czech Republic and second-biggest beer exporter

Today, Budweiser Budvar has an 8% share of all beer produced in the Czech Republic, making it the fourth-largest brewery in the country, the first three being Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen, and Heineken. On the export front Budweiser Budvar holds second place after Pilsner Urquell, notching up 22% of the Czech Republic's beer exports. 

While its total turnover has almost tripled since 1991, its export figures have doubled from 330,000 to approximately 660,000 hectoliters per annum. With a share of 40% Germany remains the top export country; the other major takers in Europe are Great Britain, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Russia, and Poland. All told, the brewery exports to 58 different countries and is represented on all continents. 

A global brand with many awards

Budweiser Budvar is clearly a global brand, as demonstrated by its countless awards. Whether in competitions in Prague, Rome, Brussels, Oslo, or Osaka,  Budweiser Budvar has been among the winners everywhere. Says Samec, "We've had plenty of appraisal for our quality beer all over the world. We're delighted! However, what our consumers think is far more important to us. They're the jury – and have the last word." The jury has obviously voted in favor of the brewery's quality tipple. In 2012 sales within the Czech brewing industry as a whole rose by 1.5%, with the growth rate at Budweiser Budvar higher at 2%. In addition, beer sales to the main export region of Western Europe have been increasing for many years, despite a drop in the amount of beer being drunk. Between 2006 and 2012 the brewery recorded a plus of 18% in this area. On the German export market, in 2012 the company even celebrated its biggest beer sales in its history. 

What's so special about Budweiser Budvar?

"What's so special about the quality beers produced by Budweiser Budvar?" you may ask. Adam Brož has the answer. "The quality and uniqueness of our beers is first guaranteed by local ingredients. We use Saaz hops, Moravian malt, original “Budvar” yeast strain , and water from the brewery's own Artesian wells, over 300 meters deep. The beer's long maturation period is also very important. Budweiser Budvar lager matures for 90 days, with Bud Premier Select, our special strong beer, maturing for 200 days."

The range of brands produced at Budweiser Budvar consists of a premium pale lager, strong Premier Select, a premium dark lager, a light draft beer, and a non-alcoholic beer variant.  At 55%, Budweiser Budvar Czech Premium Lager makes up the lion's share of production at the brewery. It has an alcohol content of 5% by volume and is the beer of choice on the export markets. Within the Czech Republic itself, on the other hand, the lighter Budweiser Budvar Pale Beer is preferred (4.0% volume).

Pardál for the Czech mainstream

In 2007 Budweiser Budvar introduced the Pardál brand to the market which in English means "panther". Pardál is available as a pale lager and  draft beer. These styles of beer are only sold on the Czech market. Whereas the Budweiser Budvar brand clearly belongs in the premium segment and is priced accordingly, the Pardál brand is a mainstream beer in the Czech Republic and in the average price range. The two beer brands are also very different in flavor. Budweiser Budvar has a fine to slightly bitter taste, with Pardál considerably more tart. The latter has undergone a fantastic development over the past few years, with its share of production now at 15%. In the past year alone Pardál Echt Pale Lager clocked up a sales increase of almost 20%. Incidentally, Pardál was developed because the brewery realized that Czech beer drinkers wanted a slightly more bitter draft beer – upon which the experiments began! The brewers kept on improving the taste until amateur testers were fully satisfied with Budweiser Budvar's new product.  

Choosing the right moment

Back to Petr Samec. "We always take a great interest in new trends on the market and carefully choose the right moment to act. In the last few years, for instance, we've been keeping very close tags on the market for mixed beer beverages in the Czech Republic. In the meantime we're certain that now's the time to act. We're launching our first shandy just now." The development of mixed beer beverages on the Czech market has indeed been very swift; consumers only started showing any interest in these products just three years ago, and in 2012 their share of the market was already almost 5%. 

Clear trend towards the can

There have also been significant changes on the Czech market in the distribution channels. In 2005 around 50% of all beer sold here was consumed in restaurants and bars; today, this figure is just about 40%. The reason for this is that people are staying away from the pubs and cafés and starting to drink more at home. This in turn has brought about a change in the packaging structure. The number of kegs and tanks/vats/barrels sold has dropped, with sales of glass bottles, cans, and PET bottles on the rise. The best-selling containers at Budweiser Budvar (70%) are glass bottles holding 0.5 and 0.33 liters. Approximately 25% of its beer leaves the brewery in kegs and tanks/vats/barrels. The remaining 5% is filled into cans. Says Samec, "There's been a very clear move away from the keg and towards the glass bottle and can here." Brož adds, "To date we had our cans filled under license. However, as there's been a distinct growth in the sale of canned beer, it's now worth investing in our own canning line. Even if our can sales should stagnate, it's still profitable." Stagnation is highly unlikely, as Budweiser Budvar in cans is also becoming more and more popular throughout the rest of the world. Young adults in particular are extremely open-minded when it comes to drinking beer out of cans. 

KHS wins the contract under strict conditions

There was a lot of fierce competition before the contract for the new canning line was awarded. "We'd had plenty of good experience with KHS technology and KHS services, but we still wanted to specifically check out all the other possibilities," explains Brož. "At the end of a neutral selection process we again went for a turnkey line from KHS. What decided it for us in the main were the very gentle, low-oxygen filling process and the line's great flexibility. We consider it to be perfectly equipped to meet our future marketing demands. Also considering that the aspect of sustainability is becoming increasingly important to Budweiser Budvar, in our opinion the KHS system is the right one for us, as its processes save us both energy and materials." With the new canning setup Budweiser Budvar now has no less than four KHS turnkey lines. Two of the other three lines process glass, with the third an Innokeg Till Contikeg rotary kegger.

Work on the new line a "privilege" for operators

The brewery has built a new production shop especially for the canning line. KHS was in on the act right from the start, providing advice to the architect and building contractor as well as on the planning of the piping and wiring. The line layout was also a combined achievement. Says Brož, "The operator-friendly and extremely attractive design of our new canning line is convincing beyond all measure. Our operators even consider it a privilege to work on the new line!"

Output of up to 21,000 cans per hour

The line currently processes 0.33, 0.44, and 0.5-liter cans at a rate of up to 21,000 cans per hour. After palletizing the cans go straight to the sloped rinser that lowers them to the level of the filler while they are being rinsed with cold water.

Innofill DVD for a high-precision, low-oxygen, extremely flexible filling process

The filling system used is a volumetric, electronically controlled Innofill DVD filler with 40 filling stations. Although the filler is currently configured to only handle the can sizes listed above, this could well change in the future. These changes could apply to both the filling capacity and/or shape of the cans. The Innofill DVD could, for example, process sleek or slim cans, which are much more slender than the classic can, should the company's marketing strategy call for the launch of these variations. All that would be needed to do so are new format parts and guides which could be exchanged with the old ones very quickly. 

Maximum filling accuracy is provided by the Innofill DVD's use of electromagnetic, inductive flowmetering. It no longer matters whether the cans supplied by different manufacturers are the same or not; if 0.5 liters is programmed for filling, then the can filled by the Innofill DVD will contain 0.5 liters. In contrast, conventional fill level systems take fill level tolerances in the cans into account, with overfilling not unusual here. Another outstanding advantage of the volumetric flowmetering system is that mechanical parts do not come in direct contact with the product being filled. Membrane sealing technology on the electropneumatically controlled filling valves provides additional microbiological safety. Can guide parts made of stainless steel ensure the highest standards of hygiene – and, above all, a long service life. 

The actual filling process in the Innofill DVD begins once the cans have been placed, sealed, purged, and pressurized. Purging cans with CO2 is important so that the beer is low-oxygen-filled. Once the CO2 purging and pressurization processes are complete, the liquid valve opens. Pneumatic cylinders control both the liquid valve and gas passages. The filling process takes place under pressure. Once filling is completed, the existing pressure is reduced to that of the surrounding atmosphere. Gas escapes through the snifting channel; snifting is pressure-controlled with little foaming. Says Brož, "This filling system gives us the especially low-oxygen filling process we want. This is very important for us, as it gives us the assurance that the high quality of our beer is perfectly retained in the can."

Ultraclean housing ensures maximum microbiological safety

In order to ensure maximum microbiological safety during filling, at Budweiser Budvar the filler/seamer monoblock has been placed in an ultraclean room. Part of the ceiling is equipped with filter units which directly filter the surrounding shop air. A slight overpressure ensures a permanent flow of air from the ceiling to the floor. This has the advantage that the open can conveyors are continuously supplied with freshly filtered air, specifically preventing the entry of unfiltered shop air. "Any microbiological risks are ruled out by this concept," smiles Brož, "which is extremely reassuring." 

After being filled and seamed the can fill levels are checked by an Innocheck FHC inspection unit. Like the Innocheck CUB control unit it has a touch-screen monitor for operation and visualization and is integrated into the Innocheck platform at Budweiser Budvar. A can drier then removes any condensation which may still be on the cans. 

Sustainable packaging technology for now and the future

The next station on the line is the Innopack Kisters SP 040 Basic shrink packer which packs cans in formations of either 4, 6, 8, or 12 in film and shrink wraps them. The cans fed into the machine are grouped by a continuous servo-driven collating unit. Gentle grouping is a given thanks to grouping tools that are specifically matched to the relevant can shape. A quick-change mechanism allows these to be rapidly switched over as required. Format changeover in the direction of machine flow is then fully automatic once the format has been selected on the operator panel. A newly developed KHS shrink tunnel concept has been implemented in Budweiser Budvar's Innopack Kisters SP 040 Basic. The main advantage of this over the previous generation is the improved flow principle brought about by the optimization of the heating chamber and the use of much more efficient ventilators. This saves up to 15% energy compared to the former model. In order to achieve the best possible shrink result for each individual shrink pack, KHS uses adjustable hot air nozzles. The nozzles are positioned for the various pack formations manually by adjusting spindles and using a digital position indicator.  "Our new shrink packer is indeed very energy efficient. By investing in this particular packaging concept we're once again demonstrating just how important our company considers sustainability to be," states Brož. 

An Innopack CSM handle applicator is installed downstream of the shrink packer. Its task is to attach handles to the shrink packs of 8 and 12 cans to give consumers at the point of sale the carrying convenience they want. The handle applicator is a single-lane machine processing at up to 50 cycles per minute. When packs of 4 or 6 are produced on the machine, they run straight through the Innopack CSM without any further treatment.

On the Innopack Kisters TP 035 Basic tray packer only shrink packs of 24 are produced. Individual trays are extracted by suction from a vertically arranged blank magazine and indexed to a drag chain with the utmost precision so that they coincide with the arrival of the formed product groups. In the ensuing production of the tray packs very good pack stability is ensured by the blanks being tightly and precisely folded around the product cluster. Hot melt is applied precisely and efficiently by a speed-dependent nozzle control; automated pressing mechanisms make sure that no tray packs are left open –  even during machine downtimes. 

The tray packs are placed on pallets by the Innopal PBL1N1 column robot equipped with low-level pack feed. One special feature of this palletizing system with level compensation is that the layer pusher is extended towards the full pack conveyor. This enables the layer pusher to also act as a row pusher, setting up layer formations while palletizing them at the same time.

Convinced on all counts once again

Says Brož, "Once again KHS has convinced us on all counts with our new canning line. Consultancy in advance of purchase, installation of the machine, commissioning – everything was just perfect, and the line just keeps on running." And should there be any problems in the future, Brož is certain that "the KHS team will perform as usual and be on site fast." Samec: "As we're expecting an increasing demand for quality Budweiser Budvar beer both within the Czech Republic and worldwide in the future, it's very important that our new line is always in operation. Only then can we guarantee our customers a constant, ready supply." In particular, the number of Budweiser Budvar customers outside the brewery's native Czech Republic is continuing to grow. "We can see potential growing in our export business," says Samec.  Just last year we acquired several new export countries."

"A premium product needs premium technology"

The fact that international interest in the brewery and its top-rate beers is growing is illustrated by the huge number of visitors to the plant. Over 40,000 tourists a year come here to see the beer production line and filling and packaging machines in action. Only 30% of visitors to the brewery are Czech; 70% are from around 50 other countries of the world, with most of them from Germany and Austria.  Samec says, "This also shows our employees that they have good reason to be proud of a brewery that enjoys national and international acclaim, acts flexibly and in the interest of its employees, and successfully marries tradition with innovation." Brož adds, "And that they have good reason to be proud of a brewery that also attaches great importance to top-quality plant engineering. After all, a premium product needs premium technology." And that just about says it all.