FROMM'S THERMAL AUDIT HELPS KEEP THE LINES RUNNING AT BOSTON BEER COMPANY

The Boston Beer Company is a world-class brewery founded in 1984 and is most famous for producing Samuel Adams™ beer, along with other popular brands, including Twisted Tea® hard iced tea and Angry Orchard® hard cider.  

Problem

Boston Beer Company’s Lehigh Valley beverage manufacturing facility was dealing with equipment overheating inside of electrical enclosures. This is a common problem experienced in manufacturing facilities that occurs when enclosures trap heat created by equipment such as variable frequency drives (VFDs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs), circuit breakers, and wiring. The failures become more frequent during warm weather due to the increase in ambient air temperature. Boston Beer’s overheated equipment and enclosures were causing production line shutdowns that would last until the enclosures could be cooled down or the equipment replaced due to failure.

Solution

Searching for a solution, Boston Beer reached out to Fromm. Working with a representative from nVent HOFFMAN, a Fromm industrial specialist performed a thermal audit at the Lehigh Valley facility. The thermal audit service included:

• Enclosure inspection: Fromm and Hoffman reps inspected every enclosure and cooling unit within the plant.
• Thermal analysis: They identified problematic electronics and components that were contributing to the overheating.
• Personalized report: Boston Beer received a personalized report on the audit’s findings along with recommendations on how to fix the problems.

The Fromm and Hoffman reps were able to isolate the equipment that was overheating, and they were also able to find additional enclosures that were experiencing overheating, setting the brewery up to tackle the issue in full.

Result

With guidance from the Fromm and Hoffman reps, the Boston Beer Company was able to address the overheating issue. They placed an order through Fromm for fourteen air conditioning units, enough to bring their equipment and enclosures back down to optimal operating temperatures and keep the production lines up and running. At the time of the project, this was one of the largest thermal audits ever conducted in the country.

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