Four Peaks Brewing Co., a craft beer company based in Arizona, wants as many people to drink its beer as possible. But unfortunately, a lot of it was going down the drain due to a glitch in quality control.
Four Peaks, founded in 1996 and acquired by Anheuser Busch in 2016, faced downtime and unforeseen costs due to faulty marking systems used to code its cans, bottles, and packages. Because craft beer is best enjoyed by consumers when it’s still fresh, the company prints expiration dates on every can and bottle to encourage customers to consume the beverage within 120 days of leaving the brewery.
However, they ran into trouble when the print heads on the coding system were clogging. The problem with clogged print heads is reduced legibility of printing, resulting in the need to be manually checked every 15 minutes, which meant stopping the line.
And when the printer is not running, the line is not running. With production runs of about 240 to 500 barrels of output per week, it’s important not to have downtime.
“The biggest thing is repeatability, startup time, and lack of downtime,” said Gary Fogg, head of production for Four Peaks Brewing, noting this ensures quality for the consumer.
But there’s more. With 250 cans rolling off the line every other minute, there were almost 4,000 misprinted beers. This led to either unnecessary time and effort to wash and re-print, or the beer would be wasted. The company reports this happening once a week, sometimes as often as every day.
That’s when Fogg looked to the past to help his present situation. In a previous role working for one of the country’s largest beverage manufacturers, Fogg recalled similar problems with coding machines and the benefit of working with Leibinger, a German-based company known for its reliable coding and marking systems.
The new nozzle advantage
Four Peaks now uses the Leibinger Jet 3 UP PI continuous inkjet printer with a unique system for keeping the pigment circulating, preventing quality issues and blockages that may occur with other pigmented inkjet printers. The company’s Sealtronic nozzle seal on the print head also rids clogging and frequent head cleaning.
“Before Leibinger, with competitors that had an unsealed nozzle, usually we’d be down for three or four days at a time,” Fogg said. “You’re always using an abundance of solvents trying to get it unclogged. Now with the nozzle being shut, you don’t have to worry about that.”
The solution to that problem came from Tim Robinson, a coding machine specialist with RMH Systems. Robinson’s advice would prove to be valuable for Fogg for years to come.
“Every time he [Tim] would come on-site, we would put a Leibinger on and it would work straight out of the box,” said Fogg.
Fogg recalled the past advice and decided to implement Leibinger’s printing technology at Four Peaks. The impact on the company’s productivity was instant. “When I first started, we were doing cleanings every week at least – sometimes every day. Now we don’t even have to do it every month,” said Fogg.
In addition to the patented nozzle seal to prevent clogs and ensure uninterrupted production, Leibinger’s printers also offer a sustainability advantage. Cleaning print heads requires solvents which can harm the environment. If the print head doesn’t need to be cleaned, less solvent is required, improving the environmental impact and saving business money.
“They’re designed to empty completely – so no hazardous waste. With other cartridges, I had to empty residual solvent and ink into a tank and have it pumped out every month by specialists for proper disposal. That takes time and money,” said Fogg.
Think about the ink
Leibinger’s printing technology also holds up in the hot, humid brewery environment which can make coding difficult for some printers.
“I’ve seen Leibinger machines working perfectly in possibly the most difficult environment you could find, such as above the pasteurization funnel where the air is damp, hot and dirty. But it still worked fine,” said Fogg.
The brewery also changed the type of ink it used on its products after the soft-pigmented yellow ink was flaking off instead of sticking to glass.
“Once you put a certain ink in there, some machines are not big on changing. You have to change the nozzles, the oscillators, and we would never recommend it. With Leibinger you can just flush it out and start again with a different ink,” said Fogg.
Four Peaks and Leibinger are enjoying their partnership as the brewery cranks out more craft beer for consumers — now with proper quality control.
“At the end of the day, our job is to brew great beer and get it out there to thirsty customers. And coding should be such a simple task. If it’s legible and repeatable and we don’t have downtime, that’s all we need. And that’s what we’ve had for years now with Leibinger,” said Fogg.
Leibinger also provides solutions in various industries including consumer goods, automotive, and extrusions.
