Case Study: New Belgium Brewing achieves 30-minute traceability, improved quality and energy savings with Wonderware

New Belgium Brewing Company - Customer Case Study

New Belgium Brewing Company, a Fort Collins brewery known for sustainability and brands like Fat Tire, grew beyond its paper-based and homegrown databases and faced mounting operational challenges. Operators spent large amounts of time on double data entry and manual checks, the PLC-based batching system and CIP information weren’t fully accessible, and quality control was largely manual—making inventory tracking, reporting and traceability slow and error-prone.

Working with Orbis, the brewery implemented a plant-wide MES using Wonderware System Platform, InTouch HMI, Historian, ActiveFactory and the Production Event Module to automate data collection and provide real-time visibility. The solution delivered KPI scorecards, track-and-trace of any product within 30 minutes, earlier detection of deviations, faster troubleshooting, energy-use optimization and reduced manual work—leading to improved quality and a projected ROI within two years.

New Belgium Brewing

Jessica Schleiger

CRM Administrator, Ranger Relationship Counselor