Dutch brewing company Heineken is one of the largest beer producers in the world with more than 70 production facilities globally. From small breweries to mega-plants, its logistics and production processes are increasingly complex and its machinery ever more advanced. Dennis van der Plas, global lead packaging lines at Heineken, says, “We are becoming a high-tech company and attracting more and more technically trained staff. Repetitive tasks – like picking up fallen bottles from the conveyor belt will not provide them job satisfaction.” The global beer giant therefore began looking for robotics solutions to make its breweries safer and more attractive for employees while enabling a more flexible organisation. As part of the SMITZH innovation programme, Heineken and RoboHouse field lab, with support from the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), have developed such a solution on the basis of flexible manufacturing: automated handling of unexpected situations. More info: www.smitzh.nl/eng

свернуть