Great Northern Brewery, the most traditional Guinness brewery in the Irish town of Dundalk, is now operated by a brewmaxx process control system designed by ProLeiT. Diageo, the owner of the brewery, has clearly defined the goals:

• Ensuring the reliable, stable operation of the entire brewery from the brewhouse up to the Kegging plant,
• reducing production costs and
• increasing the productivity.

The migration to brewmaxx was implemented in two project phases which clearly differentiate in regard to the approach and project management concept applied. The result has convinced Diageo. John Walsh, Project Manager in Dundalk, expressed his pleasure: „The brewmaxx system has proven to be the best solution for the Great Northern Brewery.“ Diageo plc has built up an excellent reputation and managed to become the largest producer of spirituous beverages. The merger of Grand Metropolitan and Guinness resulted in the creation of an international beverage producing group with over 24,000 employees. Diageo produces at the Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk Ireland‘s second largest brewery, which is famous for the traditional Guinness specialties producing Lagers and Ales for both the international and local markets.

Diageo was aware that the reliability of the traditional brewery was put at risk by the old automation systems for which no spare parts were available. In many breweries, a failure of the legacy control technology can result in excessive input to reactive troubleshooting and a high risk of production shutdowns. These were major reasons for Diageo to modernize its obsolete automation system. At the same time, the company objective was to replace the isolated control solutions used in different areas of the brewery with a consistent process control system. Diageo awarded ProLeiT a contract for the modernization of its Dundalk brewery with the future-oriented brewmaxx process control system. Based on this investment, the brewery is now well prepared to meet production requirements.