drinkworld Technology + Marketing 1/2024

Cover Story
well-prepared, meaningful insights. In
practice, breweries are familiar with the
periodic reports on sustainability KPIs:
They are again wallpaper of numbers,
laboriously compiled, almost impossible
to interpret, and not suitable for timely
intervention. An inefficiency the real
product would have to remedy: It
should measure, condense the data into
meaningful information and interpret it,
help with optimization, and convert the
information into recommendations for
action, such as modernization, etc.
Sustainability is not an island
Dr. Hassan Yazdi, an expert in customercentric
digital product development
at GEA, highlighted the complexity of
sustainability, noting, “Sustainability
remains a buzzword if we consider it as
a single goal. We can't come up with a
meaningful product at this buzzword
level.” The initial single-solution
approach evolved after the initial
meeting, acknowledging the intertwined
nature of brewery operations. Yazdi
remarked, “The plant is a mix of
everything,” stressing that interventions
impact productivity and quality. He
provocatively suggested that stopping
production would be the peak of
sustainability but clarified that the true
aim is to pursue defensible, responsible
solutions within the brewing process.
The language of production
managers
What are we talking about? Ticked
off. And who are we talking to? The
target audience for this innovation
also shifted during the design process:
It's no longer just sustainability
managers, but production managers
and operators in the field. It’s the
middle management in breweries, the
technical managers and production
managers, that need comparable, clear
and reliable data to make decisions
about production processes. In many
places they are still struggling with
poorly aligned legacy systems, data
from the PLC available only after the
fact, and tons of paperwork. Being
responsible for the entire production
process means managing and
considering a huge number of complex
processes.
Understanding processes: GEA
InsightPartner
While the aim of bolstering sustainability
was clear, the solution paths quickly
turned towards a digital tool offering
AI-enabled real-time responsiveness
and flexibility. Schneeberger and Yazdi
didn’t have to start from scratch here,
because in 2020/2021 they developed
GEA InsightPartner process software
in a similar way, which generates realtime
information – i.e. knowledge – from
real-time data. In a nutshell, events are
tracked and correlated in their reallife
environment. Plant managers get
information that has been evaluated
in a qualified manner and presented
in intuitive dashboards. Now, GEA has
added an intelligent system to the
software to analyze data, conclude
AI’s predictive capabilities are refined with each recorded brew. This brings the brewery ever closer to
the golden batch – the optimum brew with maximum quality and minimum resource input. Source: GEA
potentials and suggest improving
actions.
Digital tool aims to balance
interests
Digitized breweries can use real-time
data analysis to improve scheduling
and capacity management. Efficiency is
quickly improved by eliminating much of
the manual documentation, improving
labor, equipment, and material utilization,
and reducing equipment maintenance
costs through remote monitoring and
error prevention. Responding to raw
material fluctuations, accessing historical
brewing data for seasonal varieties, and
counteracting bottlenecks are all possible
with process software, resulting in peak
productivity and product quality that
can be accurately calculated. “Quality
and productivity are already shown here
in real time,” says Yazdi. “We are now
adding new KPIs for the sustainability
dimension to GEA InsightPartner. We
want to develop the ideal software that
strikes the best possible balance in the
triangle of productivity, quality and
sustainability.”
When customers become
partners
The design sprint is a highly intense
maneuver for the participants. However,
the likelihood of achieving an accurate
result is well worth the effort. “We see this
innovation process as a great help in asking
the right questions, defining the right
requirements, and ultimately arriving at a
product that adds real value in the brewer's
reality,” says Schneeberger. Yazdi explains,
“Together we develop a hypothesis based
on a prototype. And only then does the
real product development work follow – in
practice at the customer's site. We work
from hypothesis to hypothesis and look
for instrumentation.” GEA installed the
prototype in two breweries simultaneously
in August 2022, with a slight time lag to
double the data, but not the probability
of error. The practical test showed what
is feasible and what can be implemented.
Customers had become development
partners.
Harnessing sustainability KPIs
through AI
Within a year, the prototype has matured
into a real solution: The 2023 update of
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