Exemplary use of resources
The second major challenge was sustainability: in keeping with its commitment to “brew a better world” HEINEKEN México sees itself as a pioneer. The factory
in Meoqui was thus erected according to the latest principles of the circular economy – with the focus on renewable energies and an efficient use of water. Electricity comes from renewable sources. Photovoltaic cells are installed in the brewery windows, for instance, which generate about 12% of the total electricity needed on site. The rest is produced by wind power. Treatment of wastewater means that all facilities and green spaces can be supplied and biogas is used in the boilers. The declared objective is to become the Heineken brewery with the lowest consumption of water in the world – by 2020 the Meoqui plant plans to work with just two liters of water for one liter of beer.
In order to achieve this target, among others, the decision-makers therefore opted for sustainable systems from KHS. The bottle washing machines, which together with the pasteurizers are usually the biggest consumers of water on a line, are equipped with cutting-edge technology which drastically reduces both the amount of water needed and the energy consumption. On the fillers, too, new vacuum pump cooling systems consume much less water – here, over €300,000 can be saved per line and year. This is naturally a decisive factor for plant manager Reynoso. “By sustainability we not only understand that we have an ecological responsibility but also see
this on an economic level. Here, KHS was one up on ist competitors as it offered the most attractive total cost of ownership (TCO). In the long term this allows us to operate our lines sustainably.”
Qualification on site
This is facilitated by the fact that the lines are easy to operate for the personnel on site. To this end, KHS was greatly involved in selecting and qualifying the company’s own plant workers well in advance. In order to ensure that the lines function properly and have a good level of efficiency, a local maintenance team comprised of 40 engineers was trained and coached – which is also an important task in the future.
Eusebio Reynoso Razo generally has even more plans for his vast bottling facility. “In the future we want to address the topic of line digitalization. The aim is to be able to correlate and predict various process indicators in order to boost performance. By further optimizing the use of materials and resources we’ll be able to make our filling and packaging processes even more efficient.” Here, too, KHS will also be a suitable and reliable partner in the future.
Heineken and KHS as worldwide partners
Heineken and KHS have enjoyed a strategic partnership for many decades, as a multitude of successful projects demonstrates. “México uses our full product portfolio,” says Ramona Brenner, global key account manager at KHS. At Heineken’s headquarters she is extensively networked with contacts in all departments – including the R&D, Purchasing and After Sales departments. “Despite its vast size you can feel that Heineken’s still a family business: relations, forming fair and cooperative partnerships, are always seen in the long term.” Alongside Meoqui in Mexico, during the last two-and-a-half years the following larger line projects have also been realized for Heineken, among others:
- Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Returnable glass line (up to 40,000 bottles per hour)
- Ho-Chi-Minh-City, Vietnam: Returnable glass line (up to 54,000 bottles per hour)
- Vialonga, Portugal: Non-returnable glass line (up to 55,000 bottles per hour)
- Itu, Brazil: Canning line (up to 120,000 cans per hour)
