Although it is an ordinary working day and it seems to us visitors that absolutely nothing is happening at the stadium, except perhaps for some training sessions and visits from school groups, work at the Salzburg Red Bull Arena never stops, especially when it comes to safety and maintenance. I realized this as I stepped onto the stands of this second largest football stadium in Austria, surrounded by mountains from which gray clouds even in July bring refreshing rain. For the three of us journalists from Slovenia and Croatia, it was enough to cool us down as we had just arrived from the scorching asphalt of Zagreb and Ljubljana. However, the football pitch required additional irrigation.
Besides the sprinklers and large fans for the grass, there are also technical workers on duty who ensure that all speakers, cameras, sensors, and other security technology signed by Siemens are operational for the next match. They have no problem repairing the equipment while being held up by only a rope and carabiners, as they are trained to work at heights.
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We wouldn’t want to be in their shoes – it’s nicer to observe them from the safety of a special room where police officers usually sit during major matches and monitor everything happening on the field and in the stands. We also had the opportunity to experience the stadium from a different angle, sitting in armchairs and not looking at the stadium through huge glass walls, but rather through two walls of different screens. Namely, every single corner of the stadium (and outside the stadium) is recorded, and the cameras can zoom in on literally any of the 30,000 seats, even identifying every face! The Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna is the only stadium in Austria that can accommodate more spectators.
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How advanced the security technology at the Salzburg stadium is, whose Red Bull has been a sponsor since 2005, is evidenced by the fact that 28,000 square meters are ‘guarded’ by 1,100 automatic and manual fire alarms for monitoring.
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On the other hand, more than 640 speakers made exclusively for this arena can send evacuation orders in case of fire, regardless of whether the stadium is empty as it was during our visit or full of fans, because even though it may not occur to us ‘at first’, the stadium’s acoustics change with its occupancy, our hosts explained.
A few of us journalists from Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary expected to be taken to the ‘press room’, but even the police room with security technology gave us a special visitor experience. We learn that the Salzburg stadium is often home to various concerts, as well as motorcycle events, in addition to matches.
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To ensure that everything functions smoothly during events, continuous maintenance and implementation of new technology, wiring, and staff training are areas in which Siemens continuously invests and brings its know-how.
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But what would matches be without hectoliters of beer, also produced thanks to Siemens technology? Our technological adventure continues a few kilometers away, but in a completely different industry – at the Stiegl Brewery.
Digitalization for Better Beer
When I recently visited a tobacco products factory, I was immediately hit by the smell of tobacco as I entered the production area. Ha, I thought, logical! I expected a similar scenario at Austria’s largest private brewery, but already upon entering the modernly equipped interior, it was clear to me that I would have to endure the smell of beer until the end of the tour when, of course, beer tasting follows. It was just hot due to the brewing of beer.
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As the head brewer of Stiegl, Christian Pöpperl, introduces us to the world of beer production, we wonder where the other employees are. We may have seen three of them. In response to our observations, Pöpperl explains that during the entire production process, from barley to bottle, they have only 16 people because the entire process is automated with Siemens technology.
Thanks to digitalization, all processes in different parts of the brewery, such as the fermentation cellar or storage cellar, can be optimally controlled and visualized. However, while we curiously watch the beer bottles glide along the production lines, the head brewer explains that thanks to automation, they can focus on the core of their business – creating new flavors and beer recipes.
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The biggest challenge is to ensure that you provide high quality in the long term. It is important that the beer is tasty while fresh, but also after several months. The challenge is to adjust the production process so that the taste is always the same, Pöpperl says, but adds that brewing beer at Stiegl Brewery remains manual work, although supported by modern technology.
– This helps us to, for example, compensate for natural fluctuations in raw materials and consistently achieve high quality, says the head brewer.
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I must admit that I am not a big fan of beer, but I took the opportunity to try several at Stiegl Brewery, which were presented to us and served with food by the young and ambitious brewer Jeffrey Beery. And I know it’s totally girly, but next to the whiskey-flavored beer, fish, olives, and cheeses, I liked the light peach-flavored beer served with a cube of white chocolate the most.
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We were full even after lunch at the foot of the Hohensalzburg fortress, the symbol of Salzburg on top of a dolomite hill. The view of the gray baroque buildings and roofs of the fourth largest city in Austria, along with the smell and taste of lamb shank and Wiener schnitzel and the good company of fellow journalists, is something that is certainly remembered from such outings.
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‘There is No Salzburg Festival Without Technology’
And among those buildings are the halls of the famous Salzburg Festival, which has been attracting thousands of music and performing arts enthusiasts to the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart since 1920. However, this poses a demanding logistical challenge for the festival organizers. Here again, Siemens steps in with its technology.
In the hallway of one of the festival halls, where it again seems like nothing is happening, our hosts explain that to ensure the smooth organization of the festival, they are assisted by Siemens’ smart infrastructure responsible for building automation, ventilation, acoustic systems (which is very important for artistic performances), fire technology, smoke sensors, and evacuation solutions.
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From the comfort of an armchair in the audience, it is hard to understand how much technical work is hidden behind, say, an opera performance, but when we climbed backstage and encountered monitors, cameras, wires, and consoles with a million buttons, it was clear to us that it is a huge machinery. Despite being visibly busy, the technical staff patiently explained to us everything they do.
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Their biggest challenge is humidity, but they can also control it precisely, so that both artists and the audience feel comfortable. What impressed me the most was the huge ice container they showed us in one part of the building (which I would naively call the ‘boiler room’), which they use in cases of very high temperatures. Fortunately, it was raining that day, so we didn’t have to worry about how the large concert halls would be cooled to pleasant temperatures for the total of 4,000 spectators that can be in the building at one time, in 11 of the 17 existing halls.
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In Salzburg, they say that their festival would long ago not exist without advanced technology. The tour behind the scenes of the festival, as well as the Stiegl Brewery and Red Bull Arena, taught me that if we smartly use the numerous advantages of technology and digitalization, we can work much smarter, more efficiently, and above all better in various industries.
From Salzburg, I carry a touch of Austrian innovative spirit and, of course, their traditional Mozart balls.
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