Food & Beverage

EPLAN:serves Chimay extra efficiency

EPLAN saves Chimay time and money

Belgian beer is among the best in the world. Trappist beer certainly is. Worldwide only 7 breweries are allowed to carry the Trappist beer label: 1 in the Netherlands and 6 in Belgium. One of the most famous and well liked Trappist beers is Chimay. This nectar is brewed at the Abbey Notre-Dame de Scourmant in the Hainaut town of Chimay, a small town with less than 10,000 inhabitants. There, the bottling and refermentation departments use the EPLAN Platform. No small feat!

Annually, the abbey of Chimay produces approximately 170,000 hectolitres of beer. The most famous types of beer are Red Chimay beer, White Chimay beer and Blue Chimay beer, with an alcohol percentage of 7, 8, and 9% respectively. Red and White Chimay beer is sold in bottles of 33 and 75 cl, Blue Chimay is also available in large bottles of 1.5 and 3 litres. Over half of all bottles are exported. Currently more than forty countries import Chimay. Especially in France, the United States of America, Japan, China and New-Zealand, Red, White and Blue Chimay are well liked table companions.

From brewing to bottling and refermentation

In between brewing and exporting, the process of bottling and refermentation takes place.

This is not done in Chimay, but at the Baileux site. Eighty-two people work there, among

them Philippe Kempkens, technical assistant to the production line maintenance manager

in charge. Philippe supervises a smooth technical operation of the entire chain.

An ingenious process

Philippe Kempkens: “The packaging, bottling, refermentation and shipping are all fully

automated by using various production lines. The brewery ships the beer in tankers.

When it arrives, it is immediately transferred to a preheating boiler that heats it up to a

temperature of 20 °C. This is immediately followed by the bottling process, where the

bottles are sealed with a cap or cork. Next, the labels are affixed. The finished bottles are

then packed into crates or boxes and placed in the refermentation room. There they are left

to rest for at least 21 days at a constant temperature of 24 °C. Then they only need to be

transported and ... drunk. Chimay is not pasteurised. The whole process in the pipes takes

place with CO2. This way, the beer is never in contact with the ambient air.”

Higher efficiency with EPLAN

During the entire process, the performance of the production line is crucial. Philippe

Kempkens is the person responsible for managing the computer-specific, electrical and

pneumatic aspects of the bottling system. His role is a key role ... shared with EPLAN.

“I regularly need to make changes, adjustments or corrections to the automated

production line. For maximum efficiency, it is essential that we have accurate and

reliable plans of our entire system. Previously, all our plans would be written down on

paper, and we would have to continuously adjust and correct them. This required a

huge investment and took a lot of time. So we decided to start looking for reliable and

practical design software. That is when we discovered EPLAN.”

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Food & Beverage

Bottling and refermentation

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EPLAN chosen following market research

Chimay did not want to rush into choosing the design

software. They wanted to implement the best possible

solution available. “After doing our market research,

we decided on EPLAN”, Philippe Kempkens continues.

“We were impressed with what their software packages

were capable of. Moreover, the manufacturers of our

machines were also using EPLAN. Choosing EPLAN

meant a significant advantage in terms of coherence and

integration.”

Coherence andintegration

Substantial time savings

The Chimay Brewery started by working with EPLAN

software versions 5.6 and 5.7. Then they changed to

EPLAN Electric P8. Philippe Kempkens has only good

things to say about this platform. “What it is I like about

it so much? The gateways and the links to various

electronic items and the “machine” diagrams, and also

the ease with which our updates are carried out. EPLAN

gives us a precise and well-documented overview of

our plans, on a continuous basis, in particular thanks to

cross-references. This gives us the opportunity to develop

our production lines and our documentation very quickly.

We gain an enormous amount of time in our custom-made

work, and in managing the lines. I estimate these time savings

at 90%, and at 60% for all maintenance carried out.”

Food & Beverage

Performance that savestime and money

The continuous pursuit of quality

Quality: for premium beers such as Chimay quality is not only about what is in the glass, it is also indispensable during

the production processes. As far as Chimay is concerned, the choice for EPLAN fits in perfectly with this point of view. By

making good use of the system, the processes not only run smoother, but also the downtime for maintenance or repairs

has been significantly reduced. And the more features that are used, the higher the return.

Training courses with immediate results

Philippe Kempkens: “I have completed several courses at EPLAN, because I simply wanted to understand and use all the

software features as optimally as possible. It was just a matter of achieving the maximum efficiency possible. The courses

were very practical. I was able to apply all the advantages immediately, without the need to first invest time in the learning

process. As for Eplan’s helpdesk, it is also hugely efficient! When the slightest incident occurs, we can call an EPLAN

specialist immediately, and they will solve our problem in just a few minutes.”

Find out more about chimay at www.chimay.com

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EPLAN Software & Service

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Tel: +32 (0) 13 53 96 96 · Fax: +32 (0) 13 53 96 99

E-Mail: sales@eplan.be · www.eplan.be

EPLAN Software & Service

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Tel: +31 (0) 316 591 770 · Fax: +31 (0) 316 591 749

E-Mail: sales@eplan.nl · www.eplan.nl