Krones helps China Resources in Bengbu set a new record

The China Resources Snow Breweries Group is the country’s largest brewing company, making roughly eleven billion litres of beer in 2022. Following commissioning of another plant in Bengbu in April 2023, overall output has been catapulted to new record heights.

Measured by production volume, the China Resources Snow (CR Snow) Breweries Group ranks among the country’s most important brewing companies. Roughly eleven billion litres of beer produced in 2022 make it the largest brewery in the People’s Republic of China, which has reached record-breaking output levels now that a new plant with a targeted annual production capacity of one billion litres was commissioned in April.

CR Snow is keen to meet the most exacting standards not only for the quantities of beer brewed and bottled/canned. In its strategy aimed at increasing production volumes, the group also makes sure to incorporate technological innovations and measures designed to save energy and other valuable resources. In this way, it is investing in an eco-friendly, low-carbon and efficient brewery operating to the highest standards of excellence.

Top performance – Low energy consumption – Reliable product quality

The Chinese group chose Krones as one of the main suppliers for its new brewery and ordered four lines for bottling beer in glass, each rated at 50,000 bottles per hour. Upon completion of the first project phase, the plant currently achieves an annual output of 800 million litres on these four lines plus a canning line that was installed at the same time, and is able to fill CR Snow’s entire product portfolio. The lines can process new bottles and returnables , the latter accounting for an impressive 70 per cent. The aim was to ensure a high degree of automation throughout the plant, coupled with top efficiency levels, low energy consumption and reliable product quality.

Project:	Filling and packaging technology for greenfield brewery
Customer:	China Resources Snow Breweries
Location:	Bengbu, China
Commissioning:	April 2023
Scope:	Four 50,000-bph glass lines (Lines A, B, C and D) Three glass lines include a Modulfill HRS each. The fourth glass line is designed to fill unpasteurised beer. To ensure that the most exacting hygiene requirements are met, this line is equipped with a Modulfill HES probe filler. In addition, each of the four lines includes: Linatronic 735 empty-bottle inspector Linaflex tunnel pasteuriser Checkmat FM-X and Checkmat FEM-X inspection systems Linadry container dryer SynCo container conveyor MultiCo pack conveyor PalCo pallet conveyor

Project management faced with diverse challenges

Various external factors presented considerable challenges for everyone involved in project implementation. Ever since the project started in March 2021, the team were constantly confronted with both supply shortages of electronic components and pandemic-related restrictions in regard to machine transport and travel modalities for the staff. As the new brewery in Bengbu was built from scratch, all sorts of construction work had to be performed on site at the same time, which made for difficult circumstances during installation of the lines.

Integrating the equipment for palletising and washing returnable bottles and crates was yet another demanding job the project management team had to handle. They liaised closely with CR Snow’s crew and together they met and mastered this challenge, too: Lines C and D were successfully commissioned in December 2022, and Lines A and B in April 2023.

The new kit provides an annual output of roughly one billion litres of beer, thus covering the volume needed on the regional market. Above and beyond that, it plays a major role in the development of new products while also ensuring that the region is reliably supplied with top-quality beers. The new plant in Bengbu was ceremonially inaugurated on 10 April 2023.