VLB spring congress: new building impresses HEUFT guests
Successful premiere: HEUFT SYSTEMTECHNIK GMBH presented its massively extended production areas and new customer centre in mid-March to a wide international audience of experts at a major event for the first time. More than 150 participants at the VLB spring congress were visibly impressed by the spacious new building and technologies presented for maximum safety and efficiency during the drink filling process.
"If you consider that Mr Heuft started here on his own in 1979 and see what has developed since then I can only offer my congratulations" explained Dr Josef Fontaine the managing director of the "Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei - VLB (Research and Educational Institute for Brewing) in Berlin" after a tour of the company lasting a good three hours. He was able to gain deep insights into the innovative company during the 98th International Brewing and Engineering Congress of the VLB together with Dr Axel Th Simon the president of the VLB, Ulrich Rust the vice chairman of the Technisch-Wissenschaftlichen Ausschusses - TWA (Technical Scientific Committee) of the institute and more than150 other top-class guests from the industry from 27 countries.
The visitors were guided through the HEUFT premises at "Am Wind" in Burgbrohl the total area of which more than doubled, with the completion of the new building shortly before the event, from 10,000 to 22,000 square metres. The new customer centre is the heart of the extension. The conditions are ideal here for experiencing systems from all the device families for a sustainable quality inspection, labelling and container flow optimisation during the production of food, drink and healthcare products live and in action and to examine them in detail. Furthermore it provides a great deal of room for training courses, seminars, workshops and an optimum all round service to the customer. There is more than enough room in the new spacious and attractive building even for major events such as hosting the VLB spring congress.
Technological leadership demonstrated
Apart from the customer centre the conference participants also looked around the three new production halls which further increase the capacity and the effectiveness of the continuously growing company. Several stations along the way at which HEUFT experts held presentations and practical device demonstrations ensured real informational value. Whether an empty bottle inspection with the HEUFT InLine, an extensive foreign object detection in filled bottles with the perfected HEUFT eXaminer XO, precise labelling with the machines of the HEUFT TORNADO series, a label and closure inspection with the HEUFT FinalView FO, the consistent rejection of faulty containers and cases with HEUFT rejector rejection system or tools for optimising the container flow such as the HEUFT synchron conveyor control system: the representatives from the international brewing industry became acquainted with almost the complete portfolio of products for inline quality assurance and increasing efficiency during the drink filling process. They could see the performance of the systems which ensure HEUFT the technological leadership in these sectors with their own eyes. Besides fascinating insights into the fields of research and development, the production of hardware, software programming and mechanical device assembly presented themselves.
The guests learnt that the intensive customer service does not end with the development, production, introduction and commissioning of groundbreaking systems when Jürgen Kerich, company organization manager, presented the training department. Great importance is attached to a continuous after sales policy at HEUFT - be it through tailor-made service and maintenance contracts, by means of the HEUFT TeleService or extensive training courses and workshops for the device operators. The service technicians who install and service HEUFT systems all over the world are also constantly given comprehensive training - directly on site and by means of online training courses. In this way they are up to date with the latest technology.
Team spirit as the key to success
The wide range of services provided by HEUFT visibly surprised many a participant at the VLB spring congress. The same applied to the organisation of the whole event and the impressive dimensions of the considerably extended production and service areas of the globally active company. Its success is based on "the team spirit and teamwork" of the meanwhile more than 800 employees worldwide explained senior sales director Hans Kolovitsch and managing director Bernhard Heuft in unison in their closing words. "The team is what makes HEUFT" said the founder of the company.