By Hans Mick in Nuriootpa
Technological innovation, sustainability and improving winery efficiencies have been discussed at the Wine Eng 2024 conference and trade exhibition in the Barossa Valley.
The two-day event, held annually by the Winery Engineering Association (WEA). began yesterday at Nuriootpa with an array of speakers addressing topics such as the role of robots and automation, sustainable winery development, decarbonisation and the potential of hydrogen as an energy source.
Speaker Jorge Henry, site manager at Treasury Wine Estates’ Barossa packaging facility, spoke about the benefits and challenges of using autonomous vehicles and robots in a winery setting. He explained how these can help to reduce labour costs as well as to improve product quality.
Henry said advanced sensors, AI and machine learning algorithms provide the ability for autonomous vehicles, including those used successfully for palletising and depalletising at his facility, to navigate their environment.
“This capability allows them to adapt to environmental changes, avoid obstacles and optimise routes dynamically,” he said.
Speaker Michaela Barton, quality assurance manager at Kingston Estate Wines, detailed her company’s journey to becoming a sustainable wine producer.
She outlined both the environmental and commercial benefits of sustainable practices, and emphasised the need for a ‘comprehensive and proactive’ approach to tackle challenges such as wastewater management and reducing biogas emissions.
“We’ve actually only been fully accredited for a year […] For me, at the moment, it’s grassroots – trying to get a community of our workers actually interested in sustainability […] The biggest outcome is people are actually thinking about it.
“I live in a very agricultural area where people just want to work and go home and not think about the impact on the world. So, the biggest change I’ve seen in my area is everyone in the business is now actually thinking about these things and telling me about the actions that they’re doing,” she explained.
Wine Eng conference manager Simon Nordestgaard said the strong turnout to this year’s event has been pleasing.
“We’re very happy to get this turnout, because obviously these are difficult times.
“It is great to get together with people talking about what they’re doing or [their] technologies.
A range of industry suppliers exhibited their latest products and services
Nordestgaard said several key areas have been of particular interest this year.
“Robotics is a big topic. We’ve had a speaker who is a roboticist, who talked about humanoid robots.
“While that’s not really happening in the wine industry, we see so much about it in the media and with Tesla, for example. We thought that it would be good to give people an update on what’s happening out there.
“Sustainability is an underlying theme for a lot of the presentations […] focussing on talks about electric forklifts… about hydrogen and lowering CO² as well.”
A range of industry suppliers have also exhibited their latest products and services, with cutting edge technology for grape and wine producers on display.
Pellenc Group managing director Jean Vittot said innovation remains important for an ‘evolving wine sector’ to remain efficient and profitable. He said the enthusiasm of attendees at Wine Eng 2024 is a “very good sign”.
Pellenc Group managing director Jean Vittot and sales manager James Kain
“This is a great show that we’ve been attending for more than 10 years. And the attendance is quite high because people always need to look at the best ways to operate their business. And we all play a part here to help the industry and to keep the industry informed of what we are coming up with.
“We are bringing innovative solutions every year to the market, whether it’s in the vineyard or in the winery space. We’re very happy to be here with the industry and other manufacturers.”
Chris Hoey, managing director of Bürkert Australia, said while the Australian wine sector still faces significant challenges, there remains a need for greater investment in new and improved technology to reduce operating costs and improve outcomes.
“It’s good to see everyone back [at Wine Eng 2024] and the industry still thriving. Hopefully investment will pick up again. Obviously, it’s going to take a little bit of time.
“There’s still a lot of room for optimisation expansion, and I think one of the big challenges as we move forward is going to be making energy more efficient.
Bürkert Australia managing director Chris Hoey
“The thing is that people need to be thinking about modern manufacturing processes and how we can better embrace technology to decrease our costs, increase our quality, reduce our OH&S issues, etc., and most importantly, decrease [carbon] footprints. They’re the four main areas that we find wineries want to actually achieve, and that’s where modern technology can help them.”
Wine Eng 2024 wraps up today with site tours of the newly constructed Dorrien Estate winery and Treasury Wine Estates’ Barossa R&D winery and automated barrel hall, and its packaging centre.
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