New Belgium Brewing Environment Excellence Success Story

For New Belgium Brewing, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, Environmental Stewardship has been a core value since the company's inception. As winners of the Environment and Safety Excellence award from Schneider Electric, New Belgium stands as a shining example of sustainable manufacturing.



New Belgium Brewing is the third largest craft brewery in the U.S., producing over 18 million gallons of beer annually.

In 1999, New Belgium Brewing became the first U.S. brewery to acquire 100% of its purchased electricity from wind power.

New Belgium Brewing uses Schneider Electric software with the help of Wonderware West to help their environmental and sustainability projects succeed.

Tapping the Future at New Belgium Brewing

By evolving and effectively maintaining best practices with Wonderware MES Performance software allows for the expansion this system across multiple areas of New Belgium, as well as at its new plant currently under construction in Asheville, N.C.

“By increasing our operations efficiency, we now can free up time to get back to focusing on our corporate culture,” Herrick said. “When our operations were running so quickly, we had to eliminate some of our popular employee extra-curricular activities, such as our annual volleyball tournament. Today as we gain momentum in production, our people see the benefits and we are now very much in control of production processes.”

New Belgium is now meeting capacity, surpassing production of 200,000 cases a week, and having time left at the end of the day for “fun.” Taking advantage of the full capabilities of its existing resources at the plant enabled the executive management team to delay funding of additional capital investments, reduce overhead, and make commitments to new things.

This includes focusing on building the second New Belgium Brewery in North Carolina. 

 

More information

Please visit the following links if you want to know more about the Wonderware solution at New Belgium Brewing:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability 

Incrementally but continuously improving operations at New Belgium Brewing

With the scalability provided by the Wonderware MES solution, we are able to continuously improve operations incrementally by deploying various aspects of the solution one step at a time. All of our jobs are changing including how we go about our day-to-day business because of the data now being delivered by the Wonderware MES Performance Software.  

Joe Herrick, Packaging Systems Manager
New Belgium Brewing, Co.

With the new MES solution delivered by Apex, New Belgium Brewing now has the mechanics on each shift 24/7 to support the bottling line. 

"We have lead techs that are addressing issues identified in trends noted by the software," Herrick said, " Access to this real-time information enables our team to work on things ahead of time by performing preventative maintenance, enabling us to get out in front of potential issues.”

More information

Please visit the following links if you want to know more about the Wonderware solution at New Belgium Brewing:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability 

The Game Changers at New Belgium Brewing

“With Wonderware MES Performance Software coupled with New Belgium’s continuous improvement strategy, we have extended our packaging area capacity to about 1.3 million barrels each year.”

Joe Herrick, Packaging Systems Manager
New Belgium Brewing, Co.

Achieving Continuous Process Improvement Through Flexibility and Scalability

The flexibility and scalability of the Wonderware MES software has enabled New Belgium to customize its product packaging systems to meet its unique requirements for the efficient flow of captured production management data from the plant floor systems.

The combination of Wonderware MES Performance with the brewery’s existing installations of Wonderware System Platform and InTouch HMI provides New Belgium the opportunity to ramp up automation process as necessary.

“The model-driven approach of Wonderware System Platform gives us the ultimate platform for expansion when the customer wants to extend their MES system up, down, or sideways. With this unique scalability, we can start small without having to worry about switching to a different technology when the solution heads into uncharted territory. Application Server allows the Apex team to have a ‘can do’ attitude, regardless of the situation or industry.”
Sam Vail, chief technical officer at Apex Manufacturing Solutions.

More information

Please visit the following links if you want to know more about the Wonderware solution at New Belgium Brewing:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability 

Customized graphics within Wonderware MES helped Apex at New Belgium Brewing

“The ability to customize the graphics provided by the Wonderware MES enabled Apex to develop a system that could effectively communicate the line status and production capacities in the New Belgium bottling and packaging lines, while at the same time illustrate the company’s unique company culture with engaging graphics,” Vail said. “Screen data shows what order is being worked on, what is coming next, and how the current rate compares to their standard.” 

“New Belgium gave us a lot of leeway with development of the graphics to make the system engaging and fun to work with. We wanted to make sure the User Interface Experience (UIX) of this system was aligned with New Belgium’s culture, which made it very unique! Operator support is critical in any Continuous Improvement project, so the terminology and workflow needed to match their expectations, and because a real-time version of the display is seen on the public tour, we created unique InTouch graphics that were consistent with all the cool things the visitors had already seen along the way.”

More information

Please visit the following links if you want to know more about the Wonderware solution at New Belgium Brewing:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability 

Reusable engineering at New Belgium Brewing

The flexibility and scalability of the Wonderware MES software has enabled New Belgium to customize its product packaging systems to meet its unique requirements for the efficient flow of captured production management data from the plant floor systems.

“The model-driven approach of Wonderware System Platform gives us the ultimate platform for expansion when the customer wants to extend their MES system up, down, or sideways,” said Sam Vail, chief strategy officer at Apex Manufacturing Solutions. “With this unique scalability, we can start small without having to worry about switching to a different technology when the solution heads into uncharted territory. Application Server allows the Apex team to have a ‘can do’ attitude, regardless of the situation or industry.” 

The Wonderware software solution at New Belgium Brewing can now quickly and easily replicate these automation processes at other areas of the company with its reusable engineering application. This provides for the customization of the same approach and design to align with New Belgium’s unique look and feel across multiple locations. Reusable engineering in regards to objects and graphics allow Apex to provide a scalable solution that’s economical in scale for the customer as new areas of the plant are introduced into the reporting and graphics infrastructure concerning Performance.

“The ability to customize the graphics provided by the Wonderware MES enabled Apex to develop a system that could effectively communicate the line status and production capacities in the New Belgium bottling and packaging lines, while at the same time illustrate the company’s unique company culture with engaging graphics,” Vail said. “Screen data shows what order is being worked on, what is coming next, and how the current rate compares to their standard.” 

“New Belgium gave us a lot of leeway with development of the graphics to make the system engaging and fun to work with. We wanted to make sure the User Interface Experience (UIX) of this system was aligned with New Belgium’s culture, which made it very unique! Operator support is critical in any Continuous Improvement project, so the terminology and workflow needed to match their expectations, and because a real-time version of the display is seen on the public tour, we created unique InTouch graphics that were consistent with all the cool things the visitors had already seen along the way.”

More information

Please visit the following links if you want to know more about the Wonderware solution at New Belgium Brewing:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability 

New Belgium Brewing: Improved Visibility Brings Increased Production Capacity

Before the implementation of the MES solution at New Belgium Brewing, the existing system provided huge amounts of data, but with no context. New Belgium’s management team needed a way to effectively collect and analyze that data in order to turn it into actionable information.

“At one point our filler was experiencing a significant amount of micro stops (30 sec., 20 sec., etc.) due to some bottles coming down the line that were falling down, or getting hung up on rails”, Herrick said. “The Wonderware software was able to provide us specific information related to these downtimes, so we had our team complete a Kaizan evaluation to figure out what we needed to do to improve it. “After three weeks into the process and seeing the results, we decreased our downtime by more than 50%. That is very significant for our business.”

By identifying the sources and the quantity of scheduled downtime as well as unscheduled downtime events, New Belgium could accurately track, record and address bottling performance.

In addition, the operators can maintain accurate packaging production schedules, and effectively manage the supply chain of materials needed during the packaging process such as bottle and can sizes, labels coinciding with each type of brew, as well as specific order requirements.

The software also provided for smoother transitions between shift changes by enabling the new shift to easily view what went on during the previous shifts, which help them identify potential issues that need to be addressed by the staff.

“Wonderware MES Performance Software coupled with New Belgium’s continuous improvement strategy, has increased our packaging line efficiency by 30%, saving us more than $400,000 annually in previously planned labor expenditures,” Herrick said. “It also has extended our packaging area capacity to about 1.3 million barrels each year. At this point, our approach to higher volumes is ‘bring it on.’”

More information

Please visit the following links if you want to know more about the Wonderware solution at New Belgium Brewing:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability  

New Belgium Brewing: Finding more time to bottle as customer demand grows

The operations management team at New Belgium Brewing took a close look at its bottling lines and realized that they were producing 150,000 cases each week on lines that were capable of producing 294,000 cases.

“After ramping up the work week of our bottling line, we were disappointed to find that brewery was producing only about half of the product the line was truly capable of producing. That’s when we realized it was time to look at how to rectify this situation, so we called on Apex and their team of software engineers to help determine next steps in achieving full production capabilities.”

Joe Herrick
Packaging Systems Manager
New Belgium Brewing

The folks at New Belgium Brewing found out that valuable packaging time was being lost during both scheduled and unscheduled downtimes and the management team realized it was time to implement a solution that would improve performance.

“We had been using the paper-based system for a long time around here, but with the product volumes our staff was now faced with managing, this system could no longer cut it. With the various changes in beer mixes and packaging options, the chance of error when maintaining these records manually significantly increased the chance for human error. It was time to step up to the next level of automation so that we could accurately manage scheduled and unscheduled downtimes.”

New Belgium decided to implement a performance solution using the Wonderware Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software with the help of system integrator, Apex Manufacturing Solutions.

More on this in my next post.

More information

Please visit the following links if you want to know more about the Wonderware solution at New Belgium Brewing:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

Why did New Belgium Brewing decide to use Wonderware MES Performance Software?

To answer that question, you need to understand the goals and challenges that they faced. Here is a condensed summary.

Goals:

1. To increase the company’s ability to fully take advantage of manufacturing capabilities
2. To achieve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and produce a quality product; manage production efficiency; and ensure production line availability through scheduled downtimes, package changes, and scheduled maintenance activities.
3. To operate the brewery at full production capacity and double case production

Challenges:

1. The brewery lacked real-time information on unscheduled downtimes at various equipment areas which caused production slowdowns
2. Production staff were continually reacting to unscheduled downtime at equipment areas
3. Management needed to address gaps in methods and processes to drive improvements
4. The bottling operation lacked the ability to predict capabilities to effectively commit brewery staff to specific production goals

More information

More on this tomorrow. In the meantime, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

Kampai!
Jay

New Belgium Brewing - 3rd largest craft brewer in the USA, Wonderware user

What started out as a beer brewing hobby fueled by a passion for great tasting craft brews, has turned into one of America’s best multi-million dollar success stories. Producing some of the world’s most popular craft brews, including Fat Tire and a multitude of other popular IPA, Pilsner, wheat beers and ales, has the folks at New Belgium Brewing Co. tapping into the world’s demand for great tasting American craft brews.

So how does a company maintain its position as the nation’s third largest craft brewery and eighth largest overall brewery in the U.S. since 2012?

Give the people what they want - more great tasting beer. To ensure its discerning beer loving fans receive only the highest quality beverage, New Belgium implemented a series of manufacturing automation initiatives over the last five years to streamline and improve its brewing and bottling facility in northern Colorado.

 

“New Belgium’s brewing operations were rapidly reaching capacity, and we needed to identify both efficiencies and inefficiencies in our bottling lines so the brewery could maintain its operating schedule. With such a rapid growth of our business year after year, and sometimes at a pretty fast clip, this was a good problem to have, but still a problem we needed to address.

Joe Herrick
Packaging Systems Manager
New Belgium Brewing

More information

For more information about the products that was used in the New Belgium Brewing solution that was created with the help of system itegrator Apex Manufacturing Solutions, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Throughout this week (and probably the next), I will be featuring the MES implementation at New Belgium Brewing.

Cheers!
Jay

Downtime Monitoring at New Belgium Brewing

Many elements to the system

The line overview shown below is available in all the workstations. This allows the personel at New Belgium Brewing to see what's happening at all times and help prevent line downtime.

More information

For more information about the products that was used in the New Belgium Brewing solution that was created with the help of system itegrator Apex Manufacturing Solutions, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability  

The folks at New Belgium Brewing know what's happening at the bottling lines at any time

The folks at New Belgium Brewing know what's happening at the bottling lines at any time. This knowledge gives them the ability to improve yeild, address downtime and allocate more time for fun things to do.

More information

We're creating a new success story with system itegrator Apex Manufacturing Solutions about the Wonderware MES implementation at New Belgium Brewing. Watch out for it.

In the meantime, please visit the following links:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

New Belgium Brewing uses Schneider Electric

New Belgium Brewing uses Schneider Electric for its charging stations. 

New Belgium Brewing sustainability success story video

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:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Sustainable Manufacturing at New Belgium Brewing

Download the New Belgium Brewing success story on sustainable manufacturing and find out how they use Wonderware to achieve their environment and sustainability goals.

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:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence at New Belgium Brewing

Download the New Belgium Brewing success story that talks about their extensive Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence and Manufacturing Execution System.

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:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Utilities Monitoring at New Belgium Brewing

Once tracked 100% by hand, vital stats such as temperature and pressure measurements were difficult to gather, hard to support and not easily analyzed. But not anymore.

Today, New Belgium Brewery’s system employs Wonderware Historian software to collect and store real-time and historical production data. Plus Wonderware InTouch Human Machine Interface (HMI) software with its intuitive graphical interface makes running the plant easier than ever before.

Beer brewing is an energy-intensive process, and with the Wonderware solution, energy conservation has improved too. Steam, water and electricity consumption is monitored continuously. The plant’s lighting system is automated; when no one is present, light sensors automatically dim the lights or turn off unneeded banks of lights.

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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:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Information Collection at New Belgium Brewing

The information collected from the Wonderware solution is used for Statistical Process Control

"The data that Wonderware generates is used by our SPC team. We probably have more than 10 greenbelts and a bunch of a six sigma black belts. We take it very seriously so just by being able to see the data and use control charts, we are capable of almost doing predictive control and seeing if we are leaning in the right direction or the wrong direction. We have to ability now to try to correct if necessary."

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:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

Track and Trace at New Belgium Brewing

 

What are the benefits of the Track and Trace system to New Belgium Brewing?

"First of all we got rid of a lot of paper. So we save a lot of trees. From an admin perspective, we save a lot of time. From a people’s perspective, we save a lot of frustration. That’s the number one benefit. 

The number two benefit was that the project was a great learning experience. We learned a lot about our process, things we could have never dreamed of."

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:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability

 

The Wonderware Historian Client in New Belgium Brewing Regulatory Compliance

 

New Belgium Brewing is regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for compliance and taxes

"A lot of our accountants believe it or not, use the Wonderware Historian Client to extract the data for batches produced and alcohol content because that is integrated with their formulas for the computation of taxes. We even have it down to the janitor using the Historian Client to determine the temperatures in the rooms and what needs to be cleaned or not and which areas have been used. Were also saving lots of energy by being able to analyze where it is going and how to optimize it. Energy, Water, Cleaning resources. 

I would say that it is probably one of the most used tools throughout our Enterprise. At least for our production folks, I am not talking about sales folks, but the production, accounting, quality assurance and IT folks are using the Wonderware Historian Client very heavily."

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:

1. The Wonderware Food and Beverage page
2. The Wonderware Supervisory and Control page
3. Wonderware InTouch
4. New Belgium Brewing Homepage
5. New Belgium Brewing Sustainability