SIBA Technical Services (SIBA TS) was set up in November 2008 as a result of a number of requirements for SIBA members:

• Craft micro brewers have clearly demonstrated to the market place the quality of their cask beers. However, draught beers are subject to the variable standards of many dispense systems in trade which can ultimately affect the quality of product as presented to the consumer. SIBA therefore wants to drive the high standards associated with its members’ beers into the dispense systems delivering them to glass.
• The Contract arrangements for SIBA DDS mean that we are responsible in many cases for the provision of a standardised, high quality Technical Service support for the beers our members deliver. Clearly such a service must be both effective and efficient to meet the needs of the customer and the brewer alike.
• The growing demand for SIBA members’ beers has meant that small brewers have to get involved increasingly in the provision of Technical Services on behalf of their Free Trade customers.

Building on these requirements, SIBA TS has been set up as a separate operating company within SIBA in the same way as SIBA DDS is. SIBA TS itself is managed on a day to day basis by Rachel Harriott and supported by other members of the SIBA team in terms of administration etc. In addition, SIBA TS is supported by the technical knowledge of Paddy Johnson, a master brewer with over 30 years industry experience, to support the operation and member’s technical dispense needs.

Following competitive tendering and service comparison, Innserve ltd was appointed as our national service provider and has undertaken all SIBA DDS work in terms of installations and maintenance calls.

At the SIBA conference in March ’09 the services supplied by SIBA TS were explained and it was announced that these were now available for SIBA members to use on an ‘ad-hoc/pay as you go’ basis for their own Free Trade customers. This use of SIBA TS is growing steadily as individual member companies try out the services and then continue to use them for the benefits achieved.