WineEng 2012 - the Winery Engineering Association’s national conference and exhibition

What: WineEng 2012 When: June 20 and 21 Where: Vine Inn, Barossa More information/registration: www.wea.org.au

The Winery Engineering Association’s national conference and exhibition keeps key operational staff up to date with the latest global technological advancements - ensuring that the Australian wine industry retains its competitive edge wherever possible.

This year’s conference and exhibition, WineEng 2012, will concentrate on many aspects of wine production and is aimed at production operations personnel including engineering and maintenance staff, winemakers, bottling and packaging management, general management and winery suppliers whose goal is to ensure that the Australian wine industry remains competitive both in the domestic and global markets.

Registration for the conference and associated exhibition starts at 10.00 am on Wednesday 20 June. The conference will then commence at 11.15 am and,following a welcome from the WEA President Geoff Leighton, a keynote address will be given Dr Vince O’Brien, who holds the position of Business Development Manager with the Australian Wine Research Institute. At the conclusion of the keynote address, the presentation of technical papers will follow.

The 2012 National Conference theme, titled ‘Building customer value’, will focus on new innovations and improvements in winery production techniques that have been developed in recent times and are either currently available or are about to be released.

Some of the key areas that will be addressed will be as follows:

• More efficient use of utilities and resources.
• Improving the level of engineering services provided to production by understanding the appropriate maintenance strategy required.
• Understanding and implementing overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) programs and tools.
• Implementing quality systems including a number of case studies.
• More effective use of refrigeration.
• Developments in wine and lees filtration.
• Government funding for Clean Technology Investment programs.
• Developments in gas application technology.
• Implications of the new model National Work, Health & Safety Act.

Key speakers will address these issues over two days of presentations which will provide opportunities to share and improve knowledge for the entire winery team.

An integral part of this annual event is the display of products and services available from Australian and international providers.

With the conference and associated exhibition being one of the few that is run on an annual basis, it also provides an excellent opportunity for annual face-to-face networking amongst key operational staff from small boutique operations to those representing large multinational wine companies.

The finale to the event will be the conference dinner to be held during the evening of the final day of the conference. The WEA conference dinner is always well accepted and enjoyed by all in attendance and once again gives the opportunity for important networking in a relatively informal environment and, of course, as always there will be a fundraising section to support the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

For more information and to register to attend this event, please visit www.wea.org.au.