College of Business Administration

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A toast to eco-balancing at Hasseroder Brewery Strategic Direction Bradford: Feb 2002. Vol. 18, Iss. 2, p. 10-12 (3 pp.)

Abstract (Document Summary)

The reduction, if not avoidance, of environmental pollution arising from industrial operations is now de rigueur for most European manufacturers. In the beer industry, Germany's Hasseroder Brewery has introduced an operational environmental management system that has been certified in line with current eco-audit regulation. The brewery's eco-balance documents all the materials and energy used in its beer production process. These material flow networks are modeled using computer software and used to prepare environmental protection targets with the aim of developing a sound environmental management system.

Full Text (917 words)

Copyright MCB UP Limited (MCB) Feb 2002

The reduction, if not avoidance, of environmental pollution arising from industrial operations is now de rigueur for most European manufacturers. In the beer industry, Germany's Hasseroder Brewery has introduced an operational environmental management system that has been certified in line with current eco-audit regulation.

The brewery's eco-balance documents all the materials and energy used in its beer production process. These material flow networks are modeled using computer software and used to prepare environmental protection targets with the aim of developing a sound environmental management system.

Eco-balancing is a method for documenting the environmental aspects and potential environmental effects associated with a product or production process. It comprises:

* compiling an actual balance of relevant input and output flows of a production system;

* evaluating the potential environmental effects associated with these inputs and outputs;

* interpreting the results of the actual balance and effects.

Eco-balancing is used to register the environmental effects of operations, processes, products and substances. The method is based on material flow networks. These can be modeled and evaluated using Umberto software, which enables both product-related and operational eco-balancing.

Located in Wernigerode, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, Hasseroder Brewery is a one-product company that exclusively produces beer under the brand "Hasseroder Premium Pils". In describing the brewery's beer-making process, the production flows were listed in as much detail as possible. Just as vital was in-house knowledge such as raw materials, auxiliary products/ supplies and factory supplies/fuels used in the production of beer.

The eco-balancing of production processes requires precise data about the consumption and origin of materials. The usage within the business must be defined precisely. Data collection in a company can sometimes prove difficult. In the brewery's case, process descriptions and recipes offered valuable information, while data plates on the drive motors and pumps and conveyor belts provided clues for energy consumption figures where these were lacking due to difficulties in precise data collection.

After modeling the production process, the overall model must be completed using the ascertained or derived data. This process model is completed step by step and even corrected where necessary.

For every individual transition in the network a relation must be formed between the material entering the sub-processes and produced as well as exiting. Further, the values entered within the entire material flow network must be consistent.

At Hasseroder Brewery, the overall process model includes 346 transitions and 1, 128 places. The operational eco-balance includes 42 materials and one type of energy on the input page, and 19 materials documented on the output side.

As well as graphic process modeling, the Umberto software package enables quantitative evaluation of production and consumption, giving a targeted process balance that can be compared with real operating values. This balance quantifies all input and output materials in a meaningful manner, such as the volume of retail beer product.

However, the eco-balance itself is merely documentation. It gives quantitative values from which the ecological harmfulness of the process cannot be ascertained, An estimation of the effectiveness and an evaluation of the balance provide precise accounts of the environmental relevance of the emissions and quantities of waste in certain areas.

This estimation and evaluation provides limitations for the use of environmentally harmful substances. The eco-balance offers certain coefficients relevant to decision making. These coefficients are calculated from the actual balance and other data. In the brewery's case the eco-indicators method provided meaningful values by using a simple aggregation of air and water emissions.

Following the evaluation, gap analysis is used to identify areas in the manufacturing operation in which environmental protection measures are both meaningful and necessary.

Interpretations of the actual balance can be made to identify primary sources of environmental pollution. However, it is often essential to analyze any ecological gaps and suggest possible improvements using specific changes in the material flow network.

By using alternative raw materials, closing material cycles or replacing complete sub-processes, recognized gaps in the manufacturing process can be lessened or even eliminated.

Through an inventory and evaluation of all environmentally relevant activities, the preparation of an eco-balance is the first step in preparing environmental protection targets and developing a sound environmental management system.

From an economic point of view, the primary goal of such a system is cost minimization, which, in the case of Hasseroder Brewery, contributed to environmental protection.

The company's production, logistics, cleaning and waste management processes have been represented in a computer-generated, integrated network flow diagram that incorporates such items as water and power usage, material inputs and outputs, and air and water emissions.

Decision coefficients can be derived from the balance data using computer software, and ecological gaps are analyzed with the objective of modifying materials flows to achieve ecological balance - and economic benefits.

This review is of "Material flow based eco-balancing and evaluation of a beer production process" by Jorge Marx-Gomez and Claus Rautenstrauch of the Institute for Technical and Operational Information Systems, Otto-von-Guericke-University, Magdeburg, Germany, which was originally published in Environmental Management and Health, Vol. 12 No. 3, 2001, pp. 286-300.

The article is somewhat difficult to read and gives a lot of technical information about the German brewing process. Further, the authors point out that the estimation of effectiveness and evaluation of the brewery's eco-balance was not carried out because of shortcomings in the coefficient system. As a result, a gap analysis of the eco-balance was not considered meaningful. The article does, however, provide a useful overview of eco-balancing methodology.

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