Better Visibility Brings Increased Efficiency and Quality
The automation system at New Belgium Brewing using Wonderware software provides extensive “track and trace” capability and is a natural fit with the brewery's conservation and performance goals.
With the new solution, any bottle or tank of beer can be tracked back to all of its inputs – finding 100% of them within 30 minutes. It uses Key Performance Indicator (KPI) scorecards to provide immediate information about how each shift is performing as well as how the plant is doing on a monthly or yearly basis. This real-time visibility is critical because it enables operators to devote their resources to solving the right problems.
“From the administrative perspective, we save a lot of time. And from a people’s perspective, we save a lot of frustrations. That’s the number one benefit.”
Igor Valuyev, Chief Electrical and Automation Engineer, New Belgium Brewing Company
In addition to providing more reliable and timely data, the system also aids in enhanced analysis, which has lead to increased quality control. Product deviations are caught much earlier, trouble shooting is faster and response times for corrections have improved. Control charts are used to predict the longer-term outcome of process changes. In a business where there is no scrap – low-quality product literally goes down the drain – Wonderware software is helping to make a significant difference in product consistency.
“We are striving for quality and part of the quality is being able to make intelligent decisions. I would say that quality has increased.”
Igor Valuyev, Chief Electrical and Automation Engineer, New Belgium Brewing Company
More Information
For more information on New Belgium Brewing and the Wonderware products used in the Fort Collins, Colorado brewery, please visit the following links:
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