Four Peaks Brewery optimizes production lines by using LEIBINGER printing technology

Four Peaks Brewery, Arizona’s largest brewery, has faced production downtime and increased costs in the past due to faulty coding systems. Regular clogging of the print heads significantly impaired the production flow. The solution was to switch to LEIBINGER printers, which are equipped with patented nozzle sealing technology. This technology prevents blockages and thus ensures continuous operation of the production lines.

Four Peaks was founded in 1996 and acquired by the Anheuser Busch beverage group in 2016. The brewery’s best-known beers include Kilt Lifter and Wow Wheat. Gary Fogg, Production Manager at Four Peaks, describes the challenges he faced before switching to LEIBINGER. Due to clogging of printheads from other manufacturers, production had to be regularly interrupted to clean the printheads. This resulted in downtime of up to one hour and incorrect labeling on thousands of cans per day.

The switch to LEIBINGER brought a noticeable improvement in production processes. Fogg reports that the LEIBINGER printers need to be cleaned much less frequently, which increases efficiency and minimizes downtime. Especially in hectic and humid environments, which are typical in breweries, the printers prove to be reliable. In addition, the use of hard-pigmented silver ink, which adheres better to bottles and cans, has led to a further increase in quality.

As well as increasing efficiency, the new printer technology also helps to reduce solvent consumption and hazardous waste, which improves the brewery’s environmental footprint.

Gary Fogg summarizes: “At the end of the day, our job is to brew good beer and get it to thirsty customers. Printing codes should be just as easy. We just need legible and repeatable coding with no downtime. Nothing more. That’s exactly what we’ve had with LEIBINGER for years.”