Customer stories – AB InBev : Fujitsu Netherlands

Beer is found at the heart of many aspects of life, culture, and tradition. Leffe beer from Belgium can trace its roots back to the year 1240 when it was first prepared as an invigorating beverage for pilgrims to the abbey of Notre-Damme de Leffe. With diseases like the plague running rampant through the region at that time, the boiling of water during the top fermentation process of the Leffe beer killed all germs.

Fast forward to the present day and consumers remain interested to know what goes into their beer so one of the world’s biggest brewers, AB InBev, has given them a way to find out.

AB InBev places importance on ensuring the quality of the raw ingredients it uses and promoting the efficient use of natural resources. It recently embarked on a pilot project linking barley farmers in northeast France with a malthouse in Antwerp and to the brewery in Leuven.

The project is designed to give full transparency of the barley supply chain from the farmers to consumers, and for the pilot, QR codes were added to one million beer packs in France. By scanning the codes, consumers can see where the barley in their beer was grown, reaped, and malted, giving them more insight than ever before.

One of the largest buyers of barley globally, AB InBev works directly with 60% of its farming base, but this latest project is designed to highlight the other 40% of indirect farm suppliers.

Data is gathered from each part of the brewing process and includes environmental impacts. It provides a full end-to-end view of the supply chain and it can also help to advance agricultural development by improving growers’ yields, water, and energy efficiency, as well as soil health.