SABMiller revamps Aurangabad brewery
SABMiller India, country's second largest beer manufacturer, has completed phase
one of the modernisation project at its brewery in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The
move is expected to increase the brewery's annual capacity up by more than 400 per
cent from 2,000,000 cases to 8,400,000 cases (that is from 170,000 to 700,000 cases per
month) and help the company to cater to increased demand in and around the state.
Further, it is anticipated to create additional indirect employment of almost 50 per cent in
bottle handling and warehousing operations. Commenting on this project, Richard Rushton,
MD, SABMiller India, said, "the expansion at the brewery is part of our endeavour to modernise
and improve production efficiencies at all facilities, making them world-class. This integrated
process will enable the brewery to achieve economies of scale, thereby achieving record levels of production."
Specifically speaking, phase one of the revamp activity included improvements in the glass bottle packaging line,
brewhouse, storage and fermentation tanks and other associated utilities. The plant boasts of a fully automated brew
house with the state-of-the-art control system and an online display of process parameters at a central control room.
The phase two of the modernisation is scheduled to begin in May 2006 and be will completed by February 2007.
FIEO to focus on food
processing units
Regarding food processing industries as a
area of focus in the current fiscal, Walter
D'Souza, convener of the FIEO committee
on agro-exports and AEZ, said that the
Federation of Indian Export Organisations
(FIEO) would promote them through a
series of initiatives like internationallevel
buyer-seller dialogue, seminars
and exhibitions.
Addressing a recently held workshop
on food processing industry, Mr D'Souza
said that though India ranked third in fruit
production and second in vegetables with
an annual production of 27.83 million
tonnes and 54 million tonnes respectively,
almost 30 per cent of the total fruits and
vegetable production are wasted or
damaged at various levels before
consumption. As a result, the country's
share in the world processed food market
remained at a minuscule 1.5 per cent.
Moving ahead, FIEO
demanded the
government to
strengthen the database
for food processing by
conducting surveys in a
bid to help the process of
planning and policy
making. It suggested the
state governments to
provide extensive training to farmers and
co-operatives in the area of post-harvest
management of agro-produce to reduce
the wastage. In addition, FIEO has
recommended the government to
encourage creating pre-processing facilities
near farms to avoid transportation of raw
material to far away places.
