The Manufacturing Leadership Council is pleased to announce the high-performing companies and outstanding leaders who have been selected as winners for the 2022 Manufacturing Leadership Awards. These honorees are exemplary for their industry-leading efforts in bringing manufacturing into the digital age. SORBA was selected as a winner on the AI and Machine Learning Category.
Among many AI and Machine Learning companies, our partnership with Anheuser Busch InBev (AB InBev) was recognized fortheir Utilities Consumption Reduction with AI Engine (SORBA).
These winners represent just a small sample of the many organizations that are pushing the boundaries of manufacturing and setting new standards for the industry. They serve as a source of inspiration and a reminder of the limitless possibilities that exist for manufacturers to improve and evolve. We're pleased to be included in such a diverse group of winners who have made significant contributions to the industry through their innovative technologies, processes, and business models.
AB InBev has won several awards at the 2022 Manufacturing Leadership Awards Gala, including three individual Project awards, three High Achiever awards, and the Manufacturer of the Year-Large Enterprise award. AB InBev is the world's leading brewer, formed in 2008 by the merger of Belgian/Brazilian brewing company InBev and US-based Anheuser-Busch, later adding South African company SABMiller in 2016. It now produces around 500+ local beer brands available worldwide, with revenues of more than $54 billion in 2021, and is supported by 169,000 employees in over 50 countries.
AB inBev's Global Vice President of Engineering and Operations, Marcelo Ribeiro, explains that his role is to define the company's strategy, including Manufacturing 4.0 priorities, in both operations and engineering so that there is a unified approach across all regions. He identifies best practices and makes sure that they are incorporated into the management system, ensuring they are shared across all markets. The goal is to bring all operations to a level of world class performance and achieve operational excellence by addressing both current and future challenges through harnessing new 4.0 technologies. The key focus is to ensure that front-line teams have the skills and empowerment to drive the company's success into the future with sustainable and reliable operations.
Marcelo continues to say how Anheuser Busch InBev is honored and proud of all the individuals who contributed to the award-winning projects. These tools are now being used in all operating markets. The awards are a recognition of the teams' hard work in using technology to solve customer and consumer problems, improve products, environment and operational performance. The benefits of the projects are likely to be important to the future of AB InBev, and the awards are an incentive to continue to work on transforming the business by collaborating with vendors, suppliers, and within the company to drive towards world class performance in every single operation.
When Mr. Ribeiro was asked about the three main projects involved, he explains the SORBA.ai Project-
“ The first one is in the AI and Machine Learning category. This is the SORBA.ai project designed to reduce fuel waste in overused assets like air compressors and boilers. We wanted to incrementally improve energy consumption using real-time AI industrial optimization techniques and to develop a platform that could be shareable between breweries. We started a pilot a few years back but decided to find a partner who could develop an AI and machine learning solution that was more agnostic. We had tried several solutions but found them hard to scale with the same success from one site, to two, or three sites. So, we were looking for a platform to use with an algorithm that was more independent of the specific environment that we were working on, like the type of data we had or the installation on different machines and so on. That’s what we found with SORBA.ai. It’s easy to use and could be tailored to the business need.
Today it is more than an individual energy solution. Initially we were focusing on steam, heat, and energy, but now the same platform is being leveraged in other parts of the business for things like quality purposes and the consumption of water. We’re also testing it for efficiency, like OEE validation. And it is already driving a massive benefit in terms of energy fluids. But we’re only just getting started as we are looking to extend it to more sites. And our teams who are using it are now coming up with new business cases because it’s easy to use and not so complex to set up the model, so we don’t have to tailor and customize a complete solution every time.”
If you didn’t know already, Anheuser-Busch InBev is a consumer goods company. It's headquarter is located in Leuven, Belgium. The company reported revenues of $54.30 billion in 2021 and net earnings of $13.82 billion for the same year. It employs a total of 169,000 employees and has operations in 50 countries, with 200 breweries and 40 vertical facilities. We’re pleased to partner with ABinBev as we both continue to “Dream big to create a future with more cheers”.
To read more of Marcelo's dialogue with NAM, click here.
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