In 2016 Kasteel Brouwerij Vanhonsebrouck opened the doors of a brand new brewery in Izegem. During the construction of the brewery, CEO Xavier Vanhonsebrouck and his team took the challenges of the future into account. Now, four years later, Europe’s most modern brewery continues to innovate and invest.
“To optimize various processes, we look for the best partners every day. Together we look for solutions in the field of production and distribution. Recently we also started a collaboration with JCON to start up WinSAD, a customs software that helps our logistics department enormously in completing the documents for excise-free purchases. By investing in automation and digitization, we want to offer our employees the best working conditions, ”explains HR manager Lindsey Vanhonsebrouck.
Ergonomics in the workplace
In 2019, Kasteel Brouwerij Vanhonsebrouck joined forces with Kosme, a subsidiary of Krones AG and specialist in packaging lines. Brewmaster Hans Mehuys explains: “With Kosme we made the decision to automate both the filling of the barrels and the repackaging process. The repacking line automates the repacking from bins to boxes. This is currently all done manually, which is of course a lot of work. The process thus becomes a lot more efficient and ergonomic for our colleagues. ”
Flexibility on the go
For the representatives who are on the road every day to meet (new) customers, the brewery invested in a CRM solution. Customer Service Manager Thierry Waelkens explains: “In the past, the data of indirect customers was kept in ERP. Our representatives always needed their laptop to submit the visit report and this usually had to be done once they got back home. The work after the visit was time consuming, so we decided to use the web application Efficy. ”
“Efficy contains all customer information, so that our representatives do not have to sort everything out in advance. This is very useful, for example, when they unexpectedly drop by somewhere. Via their iPad, they have all information immediately at hand, as well as loan agreements and annual agreements. This allows them to switch quickly and flexibly. They also do not have to perform additional administrative work afterwards, because they register everything on site in the app. Our representatives use the time gained to visit more customers, which contributes to a better business relationship. ”
Help from custom software
The Excise Movement & Control System (EMCS) keeps an electronic administrative document (e-AD) of all excise movements within the European Union. As a brewery, the logistics department is often busy with e-ADs for excise-free orders. Vitas Dhont and his colleague used to spend ten hours a week completing these documents: “We entered the order data via the website of the federal public service finances. This quickly took 20 minutes per order and if you have to complete a number of those e-ADs one after the other, the chance of errors naturally increases, ”says Vitas.
That is why the brewery decided to start with WinSAD via JCON. “Thanks to this customs software, most of the data is already entered automatically. This way the order is immediately included and we only have to adjust the date of shipment. It may also happen that we have to create a new exporter. Before we send all the data, we do a final check so that the chance of errors actually becomes non-existent. WinSAD thus saves us a lot of valuable time that we can now spend on other tasks. ”
What will the future bring?
In the future, Kasteel Brouwerij Vanhonsebrouck promises to continue to invest in efficient solutions in the workplace. “By fine-tuning the processes per department, we give every employee the opportunity to make optimal use of his or her working time. That is pleasant work and also motivates the employee to give the best of themselves every day, ”concludes HR manager Lindsey Vanhonsebrouck.
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