Ziemann Installs Centralized Brewhouse Control at Heineken

In 1958, Ziemann installed a multistory block brewhouse at Heineken’s new brewery in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. The installation combined automatic regulation with a central illuminated control panel recording important operating data. It provided a concrete example of brewhouse operations becoming centrally supervised rather than depending entirely on individual manual adjustments around the plant. This development joined process equipment, measurement, and control in an integrated installation. It preceded the later use of programmable controllers and software recipes: centralized automatic regulation did not yet mean a modern computerized brewery. Heineken’s installation illustrates the postwar transition toward more coordinated industrial brewing without requiring a claim that one company invented all brewery automation.