Leviton’s watertight wiring devices help Michigan-based Gielow Pickles meet the challenges of its demanding manufacturing environment

Based in Lexington, Michigan, family-owned Gielow Pickles has been processing pickles, cucumbers, peppers, and other condiments for over five generations – from the company’s famed ‘Aunt Jane’s Pickles’ in the early 1900s to the renowned Cool Crisp™ refrigerated dill pickles it has been packaging since 1970. Providing high-quality products at competitive prices has been key to the company’s longevity and success for over a century, so when electrical wiring devices used in the company’s manufacturing process were found to be filling with liquid, damaging equipment, and causing costly downtime, Gielow management sought a robust solution that could better withstand the harsh demands of their production environment. Thanks to their use of Leviton’s portfolio of watertight wiring devices, Gielow Pickles is now enjoying minimal downtime, maximum productivity, and utmost peace of mind.

The Problem

In order to maintain proper sanitary conditions for the mass production of food, all of Gielow’s facilities undergo intense cleaning procedures; this requires electrical wiring devices that supply power to their critical machinery to be resistant to the corrosive effects of frequent high-pressure, high-temperature washdowns as well as to pickle juice, water, and chemicals. To achieve this, Gielow requires all of its industrial electrical wiring devices to be IP6-rated to ensure protection from the dust ingress associated with thorough and high-pressure washdowns.

However, Gielow management recently determined that the previous electrical wiring devices it was using were filling with water and pickle juice during daily operations and nightly washdowns, which not only posed a potential safety hazard to employees but caused equipment failures that led to significant unplanned downtime; in fact, every few months, Gielow was forced to shut down critical machinery in order to replace liquid-damaged electrical devices. Based on the threat this posed to the company’s operations and bottom line, Gielow contacted its local electrical distributor, who in turn called Leviton Manufacturing, for a winning solution.

The Takeaway

Since installing Leviton’s industrial watertight devices, Gielow has been able to minimize unplanned downtime, increase productivity across all of facilities, and enjoy the benefits of durable and high-performing technology that reliably withstands the harsh demands of food and beverage manufacturing settings. As a result of their experience, “Leviton switches go into all of the new equipment that we build,” Grant confirmed. “As a company, Leviton is a home run, and [these solutions] are definite winners for us.”

“By switching over to Leviton devices, our downtime is definitely a lot less; I don’t even think about a Leviton device after we install [it] because it runs and does its job,” Grant added. “This makes our lives at Gielow much easier because it allows us to focus on our business, not on replacing devices.”