Case Study: New Belgium Brewing Company achieves higher OEE and over 50% downtime reduction with Wonderware West

Improving Operational Efficiency

New Belgium Brewing Company, a leading craft brewer, was operating well below bottling-line capacity and struggling with frequent scheduled and unscheduled downtimes, manual paper records, and little real-time visibility. To solve this, New Belgium engaged Wonderware West to expand its automation using Wonderware MES Performance Software (with implementation support from Apex Manufacturing Solutions) to capture actionable production data and drive process improvements.

Wonderware West deployed Wonderware MES Performance (integrated with System Platform, InTouch HMI and Historian) to provide real-time monitoring, automated data capture and analytics, and improved operator visibility. The solution raised OEE from 45% to 65% in just over two years, cut downtime by more than 50%, improved scheduled run-time efficiency by 25–30%, delivered consistent 190,000–200,000 case weeks, extended packaging capacity to about 1.3 million barrels annually, and saved roughly $400,000 per year—allowing New Belgium to meet demand without immediate capital expansion.

New Belgium Brewing Company

Joe Herrick

Packaging Systems Manager