BRILLIANCE IN BOTTLING E
FOR AUSTRIA’S MURAU, ITS RECENT MODERNISATION PROGRAMME HAS INVOLVED UPGRADING ALL ASPECTS OF BREWERY LIFE. A NEAR €80M SPEND ENABLED THE BUSINESS TO IMPROVE ITS TECHNOLOGY, VEHICLE FLEET AND MARKETING. PART OF THIS PROJECT WAS THE INVESTMENT IN A NEW BOTTLE FILLING LINE, SO TO GET THE JOB DONE, THEY RETURNED TO TRUSTED PARTNER KRONES.
nsuring they have the best
led to poor spare parts availability and
equipment, and most effec-
numerous downtimes – and we often
tive processes, is nothing new
had to improvise. The water and energy
for Austria’s Murau Brewery.
consumption levels, too, were no longer
Following the investment
up to contemporary standards, and no
in its brewhouse and the fermentation
longer in line with our corporate philos-
and storage cellar, they have also recent
ophy.
installed a new bottling line for glass containers – and proactively minimised
Originally, the new bottling line was not
the time required for installation and
scheduled in the long-term budget
commissioning.
until 2021 – but for a variety of reasons the Murau brewery brought the project
Rewind back to 2014, which was a
forward.
milestone year. The brewing cooperative
For implementation, they returned to
changed over its entire production pro-
Krones on board. “Firstly, you see, we had
cess to district heat supply – rendering
already gained gratifying experience in
itself completely independent of fossil
the brewhouse. And secondly we were
fuels.
impressed by the professionalism that
Since then, the heat has come solely
Krones displayed while preparing the
from the newly built biomass cogenera-
project,” said Rieberer.
tion plant of the municipal utilities here,
“Both all the people, and guided tours of
which is powered exclusively by wood
the plants in Neutraubling and Rosen-
from the surrounding region.
heim, further reinforced this impression:
And in order to reduce energy consump-
we knew that with Krones we would have
tion at the energy-intensive brewhouse,
a dependable, competent, sophisticated
in particular, Murau integrated Steineck-
partner at our side.”
er’s EquiTherm system, where all the energy required for mashing and heating
During the concept phase, it emerged
the wort is obtained from the wort cool-
that the Murau brewery’s requirements
ing process.
are ideal for integrating the new Krones Modulfill HES into the line, including the
With this major upgrade in the beer pro-
ability to increase its filling capacity from
duction process, Murau brewery became
22,000 to 36,000 fills per hour
one of the first in Europe to opt 100 per
In terms of hygiene, particularly, but
cent for renewable energy.
also of operator-friendliness and space
The next task was to do the same for the
savings, the glass filler scores highly
bottling operation as well.
with numerous improvements and new technological features (see box). It incor-
“Our existing glass line consisted of
porates both a crowner and an integrat-
machines from different manufacturers
ed capping unit for aluminium roll-on
that in some cases had been operating
closures.
for more than 30 years,” explains man-
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SUMMER 2020
aging director Josef Rieberer. “Due to its
“To be honest, at first I didn’t realise that
age, the line needed a lot of repairs. This
Krones had already included so many
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