Frowned upon in many parts of the world, but for some a hoppy, yeasty mark of quality: the head of foam on the beer. But before the flower can even get onto the cool blonde, the beer first has to be brewed ...
It's good that Weidmüller has the experts for this right in the neighbourhood: Together with their mother Renate, the sisters Friederike and Simone Strate run the private Strate brewery, which is located only about two kilometres away from our site in Detmold.
The Privat-Brauerei Strate brewery and Weidmüller have enjoyed a close-knit relationship for many years. The most recent project: we fitted markers on all of the technical installations, including all of the brewery’s systems, control elements and pipes.
In an interview, the managing Strate sisters and the technical head of the brewery Thomas Hartsieker tell us how they find their collaboration with Weidmüller, how important the right markers are in the brewery’s day-to-day activities and what to think of beer with no foam.
Simone Strate: Yes, indeed. Our brewery is now 160 years old. In such an old building, the pipes are naturally longer than in a new building. In addition, there is sometimes a non-negligible distance between individual areas. The markers are therefore also important in order to be able to see immediately where certain mass flows are going. The fact that everything is now so clearly marked with the markers, despite the old structures of the building, is almost like a quantum leap for us.
Thomas Hartsieker: In addition, many of our machines are not fully automated. In many cases, we intentionally rely on handcraft techniques. Here, markers are essential for the best possible functionality.
Friederike Strate: We sometimes ask ourselves how it could actually work before. It's not like we haven't tried other markers before. However, they never lasted long because they were simply not up to the high demands and extreme conditions in the brewery.
Thomas Hartsieker: Exactly. In the brewery there are extreme cold and hot temperatures, there is condensation, steam pipes and chemicals flow. This has caused problems for many markers. But the expansion of the pipelines during sterilisation was also a problem and caused clamping rings to become porous and brittle. Conventional marking used in domestic applications, for example, is simply not suitable for industrial facilities. And certainly not when food or groceries are involved.
Thomas Hartsieker: In any case, they were very central points. For a brewery - or indeed the food industry in general - there are very specific, strict requirements to meet food safety. And these must also be met by the markers. It's nice and relieving to have a partner in Weidmüller who is very knowledgeable in this area.
Friederike Strate: But the design was also crucial! Especially the colour design was very important to us. Each colour has a different meaning and shows at first glance what is in the respective pipe. But of course we also wanted to see our logo on the markers - and that worked out too!
Friederike Strate: There was immediate feedback from colleagues - and it was consistently positive. Especially in the food industry, nobody wants to make mistakes. That's why there was even a bit of relief that all the technical equipment, including all the installations, controls and pipelines, are now precisely labelled. Concerns about doing something wrong have been minimised for everyone - especially for new employees. And the work processes also go faster. Everyone sees immediately what they have to do and how.
Simone Strate: In general, the markers ensure that every person who enters our brewery immediately gets a good first impression. When customers visit our brewery now, for example, they immediately see that there is order here and that brewing takes place in a structured environment. It is a sign of our competence to the end consumer. Potential employees may also become aware of us in this way.
“We are proud to have a strong partner on site.”
Thomas Hartsieker: Not directly! At least not in normal, everyday brewing operations. But if, for example, a system should fail, we can now recognise and rectify the fault much more quickly with the help of the labels. In such a case, the markers would then indirectly have a positive effect on the amount of beer brewed - through the reduced downtime of the plant.
Friederike Strate: In addition, the probability of human error is minimised. So, for example, it is almost impossible that something is pumped into the wrong tank or that work processes are done twice by mistake. So in the end, the amount of beer is indirectly increased - again due to error minimisation. The bottom line is that this increase in efficiency pays off in any case.
Friederike Strate: In general, it has to be said here that we have not only been working with Weidmüller since this project. We have had a very friendly relationship for many years. Two traditional family businesses from Detmold - it's just a perfect fit. When we have optimisation requests, Weidmüller actually always has the right ideas and solutions at the ready. And that in many areas of our brewery. That's the only way we can brew great beer.
Simone Strate: We are really proud to have a strong local partner we can rely on. Over the years, the relationship between Strate and Weidmüller has become a really solid one.
Friederike Strate: ... Foam!
Labelling and marking systems and machines in an industrial environment is often no small order. They often have to withstand extreme climatic conditions that place specific demands on the material and quality of the markers.
Our wide range of marking systems offer the right solution for almost every requirement. Even in the complex area of the food industry with its strict and sensitive requirements to ensure food safety. To fully comply with all these demands, we also offer detectable special plastics for marker holders.
Cheers!
Even before the markers, Weidmüller and the private brewery Strate had already realised projects together: We retrofitted all the necessary Industrial IoT components for the automated monitoring of important parameters in the brewery's operations. The basis is our open operating system u-OS.
Here, u-OS demonstrates in a brownfield environment how effectively the collection, pre-processing, communication as well as the analysis of data can be integrated into each other and seamlessly fit into the business logic of a company.
u-OS in the Strate brewery.
Temperatures, fill levels or pressure states are automatically recorded, monitored and visualised in a clear user interface for the greatest possible added value. This gives the brewery’s employees a constant, up-to-date overview of all important data for their work.
This optimises daily processes, saves time, lowers operating costs and reduces the likelihood of errors. u-OS supports optimised production processes, maximum energy efficiency and integrated resource sustainability.