The VLB in the COVID-19 crisis – a status report

  VLB NEWS

While the COVID-19 crisis has so far not been as severe in Germany as it has been in other European countries, the pandemic also has had a significant impact on the VLB. It has been possible to maintain business operations with some restrictions so as to comply with all legal requirements and precautionary measures. While laboratory operations, sales of yeast, laboratory equipment and books have not been affected so far, the national and international conference business of VLB in particular has come to a complete standstill since the beginning of March.

A solitary classroom?

No, the course participants are connected to the lecture via video conference system

(oh) “Our primary goal is to keep the effects of the pandemic manageable by taking appropriate measures and to ensure that the VLB remains secure and stable in the future. Under the given circumstances, however, it remains a real challenge,” says Gerhard Andreas Schreiber, Chief Financial Officer of VLB Berlin. A large number of employees have been requested to work from home to insure smooth operation of the VLB's core areas of business. Appropriate hygiene guidelines have been issued for the workforce on-site, business trips have been cancelled, public business inside the VLB building has been restricted and a pandemic crisis team has been set up. In addition, application for financial support was submitted to the Berlin Senate. The official classification of the VLB laboratories and testing facilities as part of the critical infrastructure (KRITIS) was applied for.

Laboratory operations continue

VLB’s contract laboratories for analysis of cereals, hops, beer, beverages, intermediates, water and spirits as well as testing of

packaging continue to function – of course in accordance with the officialregulations and in compliance with all necessary precautionary measures for employees and customers. “We try to reduce personal contacts and thus keep the infection risk for the staff as low as possible,” says Dr. Nils Rettberg, head of the VLB Research Institute for Beer and Beverage Analysis. “The demand on our analyticalservices has been affected just slightly by the pandemic so far,” he adds.

Shipping laboratory items, books, yeasts and consultancy

Orders for pure yeast cultures from the VLB strain collections and microbiological nutrient media are being processed and delivered. The subsidiary VLB Labo Tech also processes all incoming orders for laboratory articles and textbooks. The Wilfried Rinke Brewing Center is also in operation and prepared for conducting project work. In addition, ongoing research projects will continue. Due to the restrictions on national and international business trips, technological consultancy and on-site training courses are only possible by phone or video conference until further notice.

Numerous VLB conferences cancelled or postponed

While the analytics and sales activities ofVLB were less affected, the crisis had a significant impact

on the conference business. The preparations for the 107 th Brewing and Engineering Conference, which was originally scheduled from March 9 to 11 in Leipzig, Germany, were largely completed, an attractive lecture and by-program awaited the more than 300 registered participants and 25 exhibitors. In February the first major trade fairs were cancelled in Germany due to the spread of the Corona virus. In this environment, an intensive discussion ensued at the VLB, to determine how to cope with the crisis. VLB's management and the Administrative Board agreed that the top priority was to protect conference participants and member companies from infection and quarantine risks. As a consequence, the VLB Brewing and Engineering Conference in March was cancelled and postponed to October 26 to 28, 2020. In the further course of March and April, the situation worsened very quickly: Due to massive local and global travelling and contact restrictions, almost all national and international conferences organized by VLB had to be cancelled. This included, among others, the VLB Logistics Congress, the 6 th BioProScale Symposium and the brewing symposia in Spain and Mozambique. “The Covid-19 pandemic had a serious impact on our conferences this year. We had already put a lot of work into the projects and looked forward to interesting events. In order to adjust this area of business, we are currently working on concepts to supplement our on-site events with online offers in the future,” says VLB Managing Director Dr. Josef Fontaine.

Switching to online training

Duetoofficialregulations,VLBhad to shut down all teaching activities on-site in mid of March. This affected especially the international Certified Brewmaster Course, which started in January with 37 participants from 23 countries as an on-site training course in Berlin. In order to bridge the downtime, all lectures for this course were switched to a video conferencing system to prevent the participants from losing time due to contact restrictions. At the end of April the officialregulations forBerlin were eased, however online teaching continued: “We have converted the timetable of the Certified Brewmaster Course at short notice. All lectures will be held online in the coming weeks. The practical work in our laboratories and in our brewery technical center will follow in June and July,” explains course instructor Burghard Meyer. “By quickly switching to online learning, we want to enable our participants to continue the course,” says VLB Managing Director Dr. Josef Fontaine. “In addition, we are currently in the process of moving some of our seminars and events to an online platform and we will permanently be expanding this segment.” As a firstresult, the workshop “Micro Malting in Practice” was converted into an online course and conducted successfully in May. Other courses, e.g. “Craft Brewing Online”, will follow.

Check www.vlb-berlin.org/en for regular updates.

Peter Johannes Richard Barth

*22 February 1936 – †18 April 2020

BarthHaas® and the BARTH-HAAS GROUP mourn the loss of Peter Barth who has died in Röthenbach-Rockenbrunn at the age of 84.

Peter Barth lived for hops and for Joh. Barth & Sohn. With the death of Peter Barth, our companies have lost a creative, far-sighted and persevering entrepreneur with a profound knowledge of the hop market and the needs of brewers and hop growers alike.

Peter Barth was a driving force for change, always in search of innovations and improvements that would be of use not only to the company but also to the hop industry. In this, his exceptional instinct for the market and for people stood him in good stead.

BarthHaas®, the companies in the BarthHaas® Group and their employees owe Peter Barth a great deal and will always remember him fondly.

Nuremberg, April 2020

BarthHaas® GmbH & Co. KG BarthHaas® Gruppe The management and employees