From hands-on learning to averting an emergency.
Bram knows that even a small problem can make a big impact on our business. He started his career at AB InBev as an intern. Now, he’s a Maintenance Planner, working in mechanical engineering as part of the Leuven brewing team in Belgium, producing beers such as Stella Artois, Jupiler, Leffe and Budweiser. Bram is responsible for making sure all our machines run smoothly so we can keep brewing and bottling our world-famous beers.
A career that started at school
Bram first joined AB InBev on an internship in the packaging department and had a great experience. “Even though I was a student, I was given hands-on opportunities to learn and my ideas were listened to and taken seriously,” he says.
“As part of my internship, I had to write an essay on Preventative Maintenance for the kegging packaging lines,” he explains. “That’s what my role is all about now – I need to think about those plans and check that we have all the parts we need in stock in case of an emergency. The key to working with big machinery is to make sure you take care of the smaller components, so you can fix any issues and keep the machines running.”
Challenged every day
Keeping our Leuven brewery running smoothly is an important task, and Bram relishes the challenge. He looks after three bottling lines, which fill over 200,000 bottles per hour, and keeping them running is vital to meeting our target of 6.8 million hectoliters (hL) of beer every year. “I love problem-solving and that’s what I get to do in my job every day,” he says. “Although we have routine maintenance tasks, we have to plan for every possibility – if there’s an emergency, then that has to come first. Our busiest time of year is in winter when we’re scheduled to work on all the big maintenance tasks, but every day brings new challenges and we never sit still.”
Small issues, big impact
The main responsibility of Bram’s team is taking care of mechanical details like the valves and pumps. This might seem like a small job, but they are essential to the beer-making process. If they don't work properly, we can’t produce and package our beer.
When an issue with the water treatment plant meant that production was halted at the brewery, Bram stepped up to save the day. “At the time, the rest of my team was on holiday so it became my responsibility to solve the problem,” he says. “Luckily, I managed to fix it on my own. The team and company were really grateful and acknowledged the extra effort I put in, which gave me a real sense of achievement. I felt that my work was valued.”
Part of the company’s future
In his current role at AB InBev, Bram is also working on improving the way we brew our beer. “I’m looking at how we can upgrade our beer brewing equipment without causing too much disruption,” he explains. “We want to increase the capacity of the Leuven brewery by 25% and it’s my job to make sure we have all the spare parts for the new machinery – so we can quickly fix any issues and keep producing the world’s best beers. I really feel like my work is important to the company and its future!”