New benchmarking tool for brewers

The Independent Brewers Association (IBA) has collaborated with Green Industries South Australia (GISA) and business productivity specialist 2XE to develop a bespoke sustainability benchmarking tool and best practice guide.

The goal of the IBA Sustainability Project Group was to enable members of the IBA to measure energy use, increase sustainability credentials and utilise efficient methods of managing energy, water and waste to reduce operational costs. 

2XE general manager James McIntyre said: “Once you have entered your data you get real time feedback. If one of your utilities is in the red zone, then you can refer to the best practice guide and see what you can do to rectify the issue.” 

Developed to help brewers, regardless of business size, reach sustainability goals, the tool can also help breweries improve profitability through data and evidence-based decisions on process improvements. 

The collaboration received funding through GISA’s LEAP program, which provides grants of up to $100,000 to industry and business groups, which are promoting sustainable business practices. 

Bright Brewery sustainability project lead and sustainability & logistics manager Marthijs Heuperman said operational business decisions can be helped through the energy use data patterns shown by the tool. 

“By capturing ongoing energy use data in an industry-owned platform we are not only able to build a snapshot of how we are tracking individually, but we can then also benchmark ourselves against others in the industry, hence allowing us to plan for future investment and improvement,” said Heuperman. 

The program will be accessible through IBA’s website, which will also include links to a best practice sustainability guide, how to video and case studies. 

The tool and practice guide will be launched live on IBA’s YouTube channel on 2 December, 11AM.