Emerson is a global technology and engineering company that is looking to reinvent the modern brewery. The St. Louis-based company is teaming up with Ghent University (UGent) and University College Ghent (HOGENT) in Ghent, Belgium, on an automated pilot brewery within the Laboratory for Brewing and Fermentation Science and Technology the two universities collaborate within.
The laboratory offers hands-on training using the latest digital automation technologies to educate the next-generation workforce, close skills gaps and enable digital transformation throughout the region’s brewing industry, where technology is key to keeping pace with the increasing demand for craft beer.
“We are focused on helping train the digital workforce of the future while advancing education, innovation and diversity in the brewing industry,” said Roel Van Doren, president of Europe for Emerson’s Automation Solutions business. “We look forward to a strong and continued partnership with UGent and HOGENT.”
The project further expands Emerson’s initiative to collaborate with higher education institutions to build a globally competitive craft brewing and brewing industry in Flanders, Belgium and throughout Europe. The students and stakeholders in the region will have access to advanced automation technologies and fermentation sciences expertise, helping build a highly skilled workforce.
What’s in this brewery of the future?
The newly upgraded pilot brewery, located within the laboratory, will attract and train students, academics and engineering professionals on how to use next-generation automation technologies in a safe, interactive learning environment.
Once completed, the center will feature elements of Emerson’s Plantweb digital ecosystem portfolio of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies used in brewing automation:
- a DeltaV distributed control system,
- Micro Motion Coriolis flow meters,
- Rosemount wireless measurement technology,
- Fisher control valves, analytics software for calculating conductivity,
- pH and turbidity,
- as well as a remote diagnostics that will allow technicians to monitor the system from Emerson’s Belgium office in Diegem, 70 kilometers away.
UGent and HOGENT are one of more than 350 institutions worldwide, from technical community colleges to four-year university programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels, that Emerson has partnered with to address the skills gap in digital automation technologies.
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