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Heineken brewery in Zoutewoude, the Netherlands. Photo: Dreamstime
Engineering resilience: modernising Heineken’ s largest European brewery
As Senior Maintenance Engineer at the largest Heineken brewery in Europe, Erik Smit has a deep understanding of the complexities involved in maintaining smooth operations across such an expansive site. Built in Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands, in 1975, the brewery combines decades of history with modern processes. Today, ongoing modernisation efforts are transforming the facility into a future-ready, sustainable operation designed to meet the demands of the coming decades. Stainless Steel World was granted exclusive access for a behind-the-scenes tour of the site.
By Joanne McIntyre, Heat Exchanger World
At Heineken’ s massive brewing site, operations are organised into two primary departments: Brewing & Utilities, and Packaging. Erik and his team of twelve are dedicated to maintaining the systems within the brewing department, ensuring consistent and reliable operation. Separate from this is the packaging facility. A series of enclosed walkways bridge the two areas, offering panoramic views of the canal’ s tree-lined banks and the vibrant green parrots that have taken up residence- fittingly echoing the colour of the iconic Heineken signage displayed on the building.“ This is literally two worlds in one brewery,” Erik explains.“ The beer is made on this side, while the packaging take place next door. These processes rely on completely different technologies and, accordingly, have dedicated maintenance crews.” Since joining Heineken in 2019, Erik has progressed to the role of Senior Maintenance Engineer. Committed to continuous professional development, he recently became certified as an Inspection and Testing Engineer for pressure equipment.“ National safety regulations require that all equipment operating above 0.5 bar be inspected at regular intervals,” Erik explains.“ I’ m responsible for conducting these inspections on a wide range of systems across the Heineken site. However, equipment classified as high risk must be inspected by an independent third party.”
Maintenance strategy As Erik guides us through the high-ceilinged brewing hall, he gestures to the fermentation tanks quietly working away. Inside, three renowned beer brands- Heineken, Amstel, and Brand- are in various stages of production. The brewing department’ s maintenance team is tasked with both preventive and corrective maintenance to ensure uninterrupted production.“ When an issue occurs,” Erik says,“ we conduct a full root-cause analysis to understand what went wrong and why. Only after identifying the source do we implement
16 Heat Exchanger World July 2025 www. heat-exchanger-world. com