The Moroccans wanted to take a close look at the functioning of the Federal Revenue’s Beer and Soft Drinks Production Control System (Sicobe, in the Portuguese acronym). The system has been implemented at AmBev’s 28 factories in Brazil, according to information supplied by the company.
According to the AmBev press office, the Moroccans spent approximately two hours at the factory in the Federal District. The beverage manufacturing plant, at which the device is implemented across all production lines, has already received several foreign delegations interested in witnessing how the Sicobe works.
The Moroccans’ visit took place as part of a larger program, by which they got to know other work systems of the Brazilian Federal Revenue.
The Sicobe’s objective is to prevent tax evasion. The equipment broadcasts information on what is manufactured at the plant, such as type of product, packaging, pricing, brand, and amount, directly to the Federal Revenue.
The data are then checked against figures collected by the output meters – another of the Revenue’s control systems, which only counts the number of liters produced – and against information supplied by the companies to the Federal Revenue for tax payment. The implementing of the Sicobe is mandatory at cold beverage factories in Brazil.
AmBev was the first beverage manufacturer in Brazil to install the Sicobe, in the first half of last year, at two of its factories, in the Federal District and in the state of Goiás. It was also the first to implement the output meters, which became mandatory in 2006.
The company manufactures brands of Brazilian beers such as Brahma, Antarctica, Bohemia and Skol, and soft drinks such as Guaraná Antarctica, Pepsi, Sukita and Soda. It has operations in 14 countries, all of them in the American continent, and employs 39,000 people, 23,000 of which are in Brazil.