E80 Group and Carlsberg: Brewing Excellence Together

“From its origins as a small regional brewery on a hill outside Copenhagen, the Group is now an international player with activities across the world. But the journey is far from over” – they state at Carlsberg, a leading global brewing company established in 1847.

E80 Group Carlsberg from E80 Group on YouTube.

When Carlsberg approached the idea of Industry 4.0

Along this journey came our Group when Carlsberg’s factory in Falkenberg, Sweden, approached the idea of Industry 4.0 more than 15 years ago. When the need for fast and precise handling required a new technology to meet increasing demands from the Market and streamline factory’s operations, the brewing company started their search for a suitable partner who could guarantee flexible and efficient solutions over time.

Our Group together with Carlsberg was able to play an important role in the brownfield site transformation into a highly automated and integrated brewery, providing the first laser guided vehicles (LGV) at the very beginning of the partnership.

“At the time, automation was a big leap forward, guided by a strong spirit of innovation. The following step was to implement the communication with our warehouse system Astro and the PLC integration with the other automated systems” states Joakim Sjögren, OT&E Manager at Carlsberg Supply Company Sverige AB.

LGVs to increase efficiency of Carlsberg’s intralogistics flows

In 2016 they decided to further believe in this operation adding 34 laser guided vehicles, a key component of the integration process. These autonomous vehicles bring the right product in the right place at the right time within the brewery, enhancing efficiency. To guarantee high-level performance, our Group developed two state-of-the-art customized palletizers, known as Dragon Beverages, that offer high-speed, precision layers of products onto pallets, greatly improving the packaging process, ensuring consistency and integrity to the final product. Realized after a careful analysis of the starting situation, the type of product to store, and each customer's business objectives, the storage solutions developed by our engineering team according to Carlsberg’s needs include a Block Storage and a three-level Gravity Rack.

Guaranteeing high performance over time

Recognizing the need for seamless and ongoing operation, our Group deployed an Integrated Technical Support (ITS) that guarantees that the performance of the entire plant remains high over time, while ensuring continuous improvement and training programs to the team. Understanding in detail the functionality of the systems allows the operators who have to interact with these technologies on a daily basis to know how and when to intervene, reducing production downtime or facilitating communication with the 24/7 Remote Support.

“Our role here is to keep the software system efficient and to propose potential functionality improvements, when needed. Working in close cooperation with Carlsberg by simulating different scenarios, we try to look for and take the correct decision at the end” declare Anders Schmidt and Eliasson Jonas, part of ITS at Carlsberg Sverige.

Sustainability and reduced environmental impact through integrated systems

Sustainability is another key point for Carlsberg, which strives for resource use optimization and waste reduction. “Delivering goods at the right time has environmental benefits, as reworks are reduced or eliminated. Through this automated and integrated solution, we expect to reduce the environmental impact”, adds Joakim Sjögren.

Over the past two decades, the plant has been running everyday 24/7 since the start of the partnership between Carlsberg and our Group, which has been characterized by a profound sense of reliability and steadfast consistency, which, in turn, has yielded positive results. Through a profound sense of mutual trust and a pioneering attitude towards innovation, the collaboration has evolved into a remarkable success story of a shared journey towards the future.