My favorite professional visit was to the Damm Brewery in Barcelona, Spain. I found this visit to be very interesting.
In particular, I found it especially fascinating that their factory only has 6 people working on the floor at a time yet there are hundreds employed by the company. Their factory is almost completely automated, which is both impressive and unbelievable. The exact science in their assembly is incredible; how they programmed the machines to do certain tasks, at the exact right time, in order to get the final product. Along with the assembly line, I also liked the presentation about how they market their product. I found it interesting to compare their marketing techniques to those of American beer companies. Particularly that they try to capture the Mediterranean lifestyle, while the United States companies try to capture the American lifestyle. It is also interesting to see how Damm wishes to expand in the coming years. Their market is mainly in Catalonia and Spain, while their target market is the rest of Europe and the United States.
In addition, the visit would not have been complete without beer testing. I liked this visit a lot because it was very interactive. We weren’t just sitting and listening to a speaker present about their company. We had a short presentation then got a walking tour around the factory and finally a beer tasting. The moving around helped keep the visit interesting and exciting. Damm was a wonderful visit and I fully recommend future Forum Nexus programs to go there!
By: Zoe Miller, Forum-Nexus 2014 alumna
