Case study
Power monitoring at Shelter Brewing Co
Shelter Brewing Co., a brewery located at the foot of the picturesque Busselton Jetty in Western Australia, faced challenges with gaps in their original brewing system – they turned to Shoestring for a solution.
The business challenge
Shelter specialises in producing and distributing beer across Western Australia, with growing export opportunities in Singapore. Despite having a partially automated brewing system, the team found it difficult to quantify inefficiencies and identify underperforming equipment, particularly in their packing line. With limited in-house resources to solve these issues, Shelter sought an affordable and practical solution to improve their processes and reduce power consumption.
The solution
The Shoestring process began by identifying automation opportunities that aligned with Shelter’s business goals. Working with the Shoestring team, Shelter selected a power monitoring solution tailored to their brewing system. This solution uses off-the-shelf components to track power usage across individual pieces of equipment, offering insights into their performance.
The system was installed on Shelter’s brew kit and allows the team to, measure baseline power usage, identify inefficiencies and downtime in specific equipment, and target underperforming equipment for upgrades or process adjustments.
Shoestring’s approach to digitalisation proved invaluable for Shelter. Staff quickly adapted to the new system, making the most of its user-friendly interface to identify additional opportunities for process improvements. Inspired by the initial success, the team developed a secondary solution to monitor the efficiency of their packing line. This secondary system tracks packing speed and downtime, helping to uncover reasons for inefficiencies and ensure production targets are met.
The outcomes
The power monitoring solution has driven significant benefits for Shelter. They now have an enhanced understanding of equipment performance through real-time data, a roadmap for sustainability improvements by reducing power consumption, and increased efficiency and productivity in their brewing operations. Also, Shelter’s staff have been empowered with new digital skills and a proactive mindset toward innovation.
What are the next steps?
Case study summary: Shelter Brewing Co
Solution setup:
- Solution: power monitoring for brewing equipment
- Deployed: initially on brew kit, with plans to expand across production lines
- Technology used: off-the-shelf components and Shoestring power monitoring software
- Technology cost: low-cost, scalable system
- Identified baseline power usage for equipment
- Reduced power consumption and enhanced sustainability
- Improved operational efficiency and output
- Boosted staff skills and confidence in digitalisation
Next steps:
- Scaling the system to additional equipment
- Implementing new digitalisation projects to support ongoing innovation
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