With the industry changing rapidly, many brewing companies continue to embarking on ambitious new projects. Nick Jones, is the brewing and distillery sector manager at engineering consultancy NIRAS. With more than 25 years’ experience in the food and beverage sector, he explains the importance of having a clear project management structure in place from the start.

You don’t have to look very far to find examples of projects that have overrun in terms of time and cost.
What they demonstrate is that project management is critical in delivering complex projects where there are multiple stakeholders and a degree of risk. 

With clear scope definition, careful planning, agreed objectives, regular communications between stakeholders, and defined roles and responsibilities, you can reduce the number of unforeseen problems.

This is true of any project, including ones in the brewing industry. It doesn’t matter if you’re building a brand new facility, upgrading an existing one, or automating or decarbonising your operations: the same principles apply. 

Project structures fit for brewing

Brewing has its nuances, of course. Working with live yeast means that any disruption in operations could impact the quality and consistency of your beers.
And, if yours is a heritage brand, modernising listed buildings can be another challenge. But any specific requirements like these can all be accounted for within a robust project management plan. 

While there are a number of well-established project management plans for engineering and construction, including RIBA, Prince2 and APM, they all encompass the following steps:

Concept > Definition > Development > Handover > Operation

Every phase of the project should be assessed with regular stage gate reviews, and every action underpinned by good governance and linked to the business case.

Every phase of the project should be assessed with regular stage gate reviews, and every action underpinned by good governance and linked to the business case, Nick Jones

Importantly, the project plan must include change control, namely, amendments  in the baseline (costs, timescales and so on).

With this procedure in place, you ensure that every change is formally requested, approved and communicated so there’s transparency and a consistent, standardised approach. 

Decarbonisation in brewing 

Managing projects effectively is becoming even more important as organisations set increasingly ambitious targets – particularly around sustainability and net-zero. In fact, net-zero possibly has the single biggest impact on changing project requirements because of new regulations, policies and research. 

This is why project management teams not only need to follow established structures and apply their industry knowledge but also to listen carefully to their stakeholders’ requirements. What do they want the project to achieve and what does success look like? 

Successful execution could encompass the following:

• Project Management and Governance
• Technology deployment
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Monitoring and reporting
• Adaptation and flexibility
• Continuous improvement

Given the complexity of projects it is important that the brewing and beverage industry recognise the difference between project execution and Business As Usual activities.

Where the skill set is not available in-house, the opportunity exists to utilise the expertise of external consultants.

Project Management experts have the advantage of being removed from day to day operations and  can help navigate the challenges, drive ambitious changes, manage change and ultimately lead companies to successful project delivery while maintaining operations.