The origins of the Association were informal winery visits and dinners fostered by Programmed Maintenance Services in the early 1980’s. These visits and dinners grew each year as winery engineers recognised the value of the opportunities to discuss common issues and challenges with their peers in a relaxed setting and it wasn’t long before other suppliers to the wine industry also wanted to become involved and provide information about new products and processes.
The Association was established in 1984 and in 2000 the AGM of the Association formally recognised the important partnership between winery engineers and those who supply products and services to the industry by creating an Associate Membership category to encourage everyone involved in engineering aspects of winemaking to join together for our mutual benefit in promoting the objectives of the association.
Further expansion is also occurring with people from other food industries becoming involved.
The main activity of the Association has been the annual National Conference and Exhibition which has been held in different states and grown from strength to strength.
However with the growth of the Association, there is now a regular newsletter to keep members informed and an annual travel/study grant to encourage and support further research has been created.
Other planned activities of the Association include;
- the organisation of interest tours to Australian and overseas wine areas
- technical breakfasts/dinners
- establishing best practice benchmarking
- establishing a scholarship for young engineers