Streamlining brewery operations.

For more than a decade, Oregon (USA) craft brewer Deschutes has employed Emerson’s intuitive automation solutions to help sustain rapid industry growth. The brewer has leveraged Emerson hardware, software and services to streamline automation, making it easier to expand production from 100,000 to more than 300,000 barrels annually. The growth will continue for Deschutes at its new facility, to be constructed in Roanoke, (VA USA).

As Deschutes grew during the last 15 years, management required an automation solution that would allow increased production without distracting focus from producing the highest-quality beers. The organisation turned to Emerson to help standardise process control. Advanced automation solutions from Emerson helped Deschutes reduce malt delivery time by 24 percent, providing the potential for an additional 450 barrels daily.

“We love making beer, but as the brewery grew, so did our need to automate to allow the brewmasters to concentrate on brewing. Emerson’s intimate understanding of our automation system hardware and organisational goals helped us find solutions to keep pace with rapidly increasing demand for our craft beers,” said Brian Faivre, brewmaster of operations. “Better visibility into process control strategy has allowed us to refine our processes to produce consistent quality beer, helping us quickly become a leader in the craft brewing industry.”

Deschutes adopted Emerson’s DeltaV™ standard configuration library, delivering control modules that are preconfigured to operate with standard software structure across a variety of basic operating facilities. These standardised control modules provided streamlined process control and Human Centered Design principles to bring the most important and relevant information to operators’ eyes, speeding decisions to ensure optimal batch quality and efficiency. In addition, Emerson’s Rosemount™ instrumentation feeds the DeltaV system vital level, temperature and flow information to ensure optimal batch quality.

To facilitate continued expansion and improvement, Deschutes will soon upgrade to the latest available release of Emerson’s DeltaV distributed control system. The upgrade will provide more efficient controller loading, improving performance as Deschutes adds another fermentation cellar to its Bend, Oregon facility in late 2018.

“Deschutes’ willingness to adopt leading technologies and explore how automation can change and improve its processes has helped improve its product and expand its reach,” said Christian Grossenbacher, vice president, food and beverages, Emerson Automation Solutions. “Together, Deschutes and Emerson can continue to develop forward-thinking solutions for production that will help Deschutes maintain its place as one of the country’s premier craft brewers.”

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