KUKA Robotics asked us to produce a case study video about the integration of their robot into the Widmer Brothers Brewing Company in Portland, OR.
At first, we thought, “ a brewery isn’t exactly the first place you’d expect to find a robot.” As it turns out, it’s not as crazy as it sounds. In fact, robots have become effective in a number of small and unique businesses.
Midwest Engineering was charged with heading the custom integration. They chose a KUKA robot because it was agile enough to fit in the cramped bottling room and safely fulfill Widmer Brother’s needs.
You build your perfect brewhouse and then, all of a sudden, you can’t make enough beer so you increase your fermentation capacity. Then you have to increase your cellar capacity. Well, now you can brew it, you can cellar it, but you can’t package it fast enough or efficient enough.
-Ben Dobler, Brewing Innovation Master
Using story to increase engagement
Case study videos that primarily focus on financial results risk being dull. These are important but not always memorable.
For Widmer Brothers, we used a story-first approach. In each video, we look for conflict, or the business problem, facing the company. Conflict is critical for a great story. Viewers are generally more engaged when there’s a problem that needs to be overcome. For this video, we considered a few different possible conflicts. They were: the safety aspects of depalletizing, how to fit a large robot in a small space, and the impact of automation on a craft brewery.
After researching the brewery we proposed telling the story of automation. How the KUKA robot handles the unsafe repetitive processes and allows employees to focus on crafting amazing beer.
After 4,000 miles of travel and a few beers, we crafted a story that’s uniquely Widmer, with a hint of innovation only KUKA could provide.
Interested in more video case studies? Check out the Kern Studio case study video
