Yokogawa measures up for Foster’s at Yatala
YOKOGAWA Australia has installed some 1,130 measurement and control devices as part of Foster’s Australia’s two-year, $170 million expansion and upgrade of the Yatala brewery, located some 40 kilometres south of Brisbane.
Originally commissioned in 1988 as Power’s Brewery, the Yatala facility provides bulk and packaged beer to outlets throughout Queensland, northern New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
The expansion and upgrade, designed to take place while the brewery stayed operational, enabled Yatala to more than double production capacity from 2.5 million hectolitres to 5.4 million hectolitres - the equivalent of 1.4 billion stubbies.
The brewery’s new processing area incorporates reticulation, fermentation, filtration, cellaring and bright beer stages. There’s also a new brewhouse, new and upgraded packaging areas, and a new warehouse.
Instrumentation forms an important element in the facility’s PLC-controlled production processes.
According to Michael Pecar, Foster’s senior project engineer, Yokogawa fitted the bill as a supplier who could provide and support all instrumentation required. In addition, “Yokogawa had proven their product quality in previous projects with Foster’s,” he said.
Yokogawa supplied magnetic flow meters, pressure transmitters, level switches, vortex flow meters, conductivity analysers and Coriolis flow meters. The company also provided a product training program for Foster’s operational staff.
“The company’s Brisbane-based product manager worked closely with our electrical contractor during installation and commissioning,” said Pecar. “When we experienced an issue with a new product, Yokogawa design engineers were brought from Japan to address the problem. This willingness to get involved was appreciated.”
7-Feb-2006