Brewery relies on Krones canning line

MYANMAR’s second largest brewery, Dagon Beverages Company shares how it has been meeting demand for canned and bottled drinks. In 2015-2016, its total production output rose from 45% to 60%.

When the brewery was founded in 1998, Dagon only had a kegging line and a Krones combined line for glass containers and cans, rated at 18,000 containers per hour. In 2012, the company divided this combined line, keeping the glass line in place, while moving the can filler, seamer and depalletiser to a hall with a Chinese kit for pasteurising and packing.

The brewery further invested in European technology when the EU’s trade embargo on Myanmar was lifted in 2015. Dagon then installed a Krones glass bottling line rated at 28,000 bottles per hour. In 2016, the old line was converted back into a combined line for glass containers and cans by Krones.

Dagon Beverages Company is Myanmar’s second-largest brewery – and is seeing demand for its products rising, particularly in cans.

Combined line for glass containers and cans

Running at 98% efficiency rating, the complete line handles 24,000 cans per hour. It consists of:

•          Smartpac unpacker

•          Pressant Universal sweep-off depalletiser for bulk containers

•          Cantronic empty-can inspector

•          Volumetic VMS-C can filler

•          Can seamer

•          Checkmat system for fill level inspection

•          Variocart carton erector

•          Variocol carton sealer

•          Smartpac packer

Many of Myanmar’s beer-drinkers are opting for cans at the supermarket shelves, therefore Dagon Beverages Company has now integrated a new Krones canning line into an existing combined line.

The new line handles cans, for filling glass containers, and used only as stand-by. “This was a very good investment. The installation work had been completed before the peak season in July 2016 – and since then our new line has been running round the clock,” said Brewmaster CF Chan.

To enable the existing Krones canning line to be utilised more efficiently as well, Dagon also asked Krones to upgrade its filler and seamer: from the 206-type lid to the modern-day 202-type design. “This change-over saves us about 25 per cent of the costs involved, because, of course, the lid is the heaviest part of a can,” says Assistant General Manager for Production, Thiha Myat Lwin.

Now that these measures have been completed, Dagon possesses annual filling capacities of  720,000 hectolitres in cans, one million hectolitres in bottles and 250,000 hectolitres in kegs.

That suffices for the time being. The bottleneck in the production operation is now the cold blocks and the brewhouse, with an annual output of 850,000 hectolitres.

For both its new lines, the combined line and the canning line, Dagon once again opted for Krones. CF Chan said, “We appreciate Krones’ reliability and, of course, the excellent filling technology. In terms of the price, too, Krones wasn’t all that far away from its competitors. Since we’ve been working with Krones kit for many years now, we were familiar with the technology, and very satisfied with the spare parts supply capabilities as well. But the most important reason as far as we’re concerned was that it was ‘Made in Germany’, which has always given us excellent service in terms of leading-edge technology, superb craftsmanship and streamlined layouts. With this technology, we can quite simply sleep easier at night.” For consumables, too, he unreservedly trusts the German seal of quality: KIC Krones supplies the appropriate lubricants for all machines.

The future lies in the middle-class segment

CF Chan, who qualified as a brewmaster at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in England, has been responsible for beer production at Dagon since 2006. What does he see as the greatest challenge when you’re brewing beer in Myanmar? “In the years of the EU’s embargo, we pretty much had to rely on ourselves for everything. But this made us inventive. We often had to find solutions using only the very simplest of means so that we could keep our production up and running. Now, fortunately, we are able to get European support again.”

Dagon’s beers are traditionally more commonly encountered out in the countryside than in the metropolis of Yangon. Since the income of the rural population is significantly lower than that of their urban counterparts, the prices for Dagon beers are quite low as well. Although the number of people with low incomes is still very large, the situation in Myanmar is steadily improving. There’s a challenge to face, however, in the increasingly fierce competition from international brewing conglomerates. That’s why Dagon intends to raise its profile – for instance, by introducing a 330-millilitre glass bottle plus a 640-millilitre individualised bottle with a distinctive shape. The foundations are in place, the filling capacities are ready and waiting – so now it’s time for the marketing people at the Dagon Beverages Company to show what they can do.