Spendrups Brewery, among Sweden’s leading beverage companies, is recognising the benefits of sourcing and purchasing spare parts through the Sidel Services Online platform. Since the launch of the web interface in September 2016, Spendrups has been using it to optimise its preventive maintenance plans.
Founded in 1897, Spendrups Bryggeri AB is today the biggest, family-owned, independent brewery in Sweden - and the most prominent, with some 98% of its business conducted in its home market. The company is the second largest supplier to Sweden’s Systembolaget - the government-owned chain of liquor stores - and supplies many of the country’s restaurants, catering businesses and grocery retailers with a large portfolio consisting of beer, wine, spirits, bottled water, cider and soft drinks. With three breweries in Sweden, it is the leading distributor of beer in the country and, through its subsidiary Spring Wine & Spirits, supplies wines and spirits to restaurants and Systembolaget. Spendrups is also a market leading wine importer, offering 350 references from 75 different producers based in 13 countries. Over the years, the Group has built up successful beer brands such as Norrlands Guld Melleruds and Mariestads, as well as the sparkling water brand Loka. The company currently employs approximately 900 people and produces around 4 million hectolitres of beverages every year.
Shorter lead times for spare parts ordering
Sidel is an important contributor to Spendrups’ installed base of beverage production lines operating at two of the company’s facilities: a water production site in Hällefors and, more recently, an ultra-clean line in Grängesberg. The company orders spare parts on a weekly basis and undertakes a major maintenance overhaul of its lines every year, stopping production for one week. Before they started using Sidel Services Online, Spendrups had to search for spare parts from traditional hard copy drawings of Sidel equipment through Sidel’s experts via telephone oremail, to then place the spare parts’ orders manually. Consequently, the whole process took from 3 to 4 days. Today using Sidel Services Online has significantly reduced lead times on original spare parts’ orders, squeezing it to a couple of hours. Martin Öling, Maintenance Manager at Spendrups, comments - “Working with the State monopoly involves higher constraints, therefore gaining internally in lead times and agility gives us a nice advantage. Today we can check spare parts’ availability in real time and get quicker answers on delivery times. Overall it is a very good system because of the immediate access to equipment technical drawings, spare parts’ lists, availability and prices. So, compiling your order and sourcing exactly the right spare parts is definitely easy. With just a couple of clicks, you can put your original spare parts in your basket.” Ease of use was a fundamental requirement for Sidel in developing the system, a point recognised by Öling who continues: “Some 10 people within Spendrups can today place orders through Sidel Services Online. We received training on it from Sidel experts, although the platform is so user friendly that it allows us to self-learn.”
Optimised planning and budgeting for increased line availability
Today, besides ease of spare parts ordering, Spendrups - an early adopter of the Sidel Services Online web interface - can also better plan its line overhauls from a budgeting perspective. Real time information on parts’ prices and availability allows for a more effective planning of critical spare parts ordering, thereby optimising line availability. With intelligent management of spare parts, it is now possible for Spendrups to significantly reduce costs arising from unexpected stoppages and unplanned downtime, thus contributing to extending the lifecycle of Sidel equipment. Öling comments – “We are very satisfied with Sidel Services Online and happy to continue using it, as it fulfils all the company’s needs, allowing us to plan more accurately over the equipment lifecycle.”
