ROUND-UP JULY/AUGUST 2020
In Depth £4.9bn
Fast facts: Scotland’s whisky industry
Value of global
Scotch whisky
exports, 2019
25%
Tariff imposed
on sales to the
US market
106
global markets
saw an increase in
whisky sales in 2019
Digital casking solution could save
Scottish whisky industry millions
Researchers at the University of
Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming
Research Centre (AFRC), a
specialist technology centre within
the National Manufacturing Institute
Scotland (NMIS), have collaborated
with industrial partners to devise a
digital whisky cask filling process that
could save Scotland’s £5.5 billion whisky
industry millions of pounds each year in
inventory costs.
Bringing technology to an industry
that is steeped in tradition, project
partners include the AFRC, Siemens,
drinks giant Diageo, and process control
system and electrical experts, Kigtek.
The Innovate UK funded project
is set to save distillers significant
capital expenditure from logistics and
warehouse space for additional casks by
tackling the problem of inconsistent cask
filling levels resulting from overspill,
under fill and foaming.
The project partners worked together
to create an industry demonstrator,
complete with innovative whisky
cask filling test rig and cyber-physical
system, incorporating a digital twin
that replicates the physical process in a
virtual environment.
Providing real-time data on fill
volume, the digital design allows
operators to account for every drop
that has gone into each cask, achieving
a better than 99% fill consistently, on a
200-litre cask, in under one minute.
Cask production accounts for
Source: Scotch Whisky Association
AFRC/Siemens
10-20% of the overall cost of whisky
production, and with a minimum of
three years required for Scotch whisky
maturation, consistent and precise
fill levels are extremely important for
distillers. Diageo, for instance, holds over
11 million casks in maturation at one
time, so to achieve close to maximum fill
would save significant costs.
Traditional Scotch whisky casks
are handmade using oak, meaning
variation in the volume that each can
accommodate, making the project
particularly challenging.
The digital approach is set to
revolutionise industry equipment,
allowing it to offer a high degree
of repeatability, with additional
improvements to health and safety of
operators, and enhanced environmental
impact due to reduced waste.
Danny McMahon, digital
manufacturing team lead at the AFRC,
said: “The digital twin system achieved
as the output of this project will allow
Scotland’s whisky industry to truly
embrace Industry 4.0 using data to
digitise a traditional process. IIoT is
changing the way we manufacture, with
new designs, processes and innovation
allowing for a modern approach that
comes with huge savings in costs, time
and energy consumption.”
Ventilator Challenge
UK draws to a close
Ventilator Challenge UK, a group of
more than 30 manufacturers from all
sectors of UK industry, has concluded
after producing nearly 13,500 urgently
needed ventilators during the peak of
the nation’s coronavirus outbreak.
The final shipment of completed
ventilators was delivered to the NHS
on 5 July, with all consortium members
returning to normal operations. Since
the group was established in mid-March,
it produced 13,437 operational
ventilators, having achieved full MHRA
approval for the Penlon ESO2 device in
just three weeks.
A 3,500-strong workforce was
recruited and trained, all while
conforming to social distancing
guidelines. This team set to work at
seven specially adapted production lines
at factories across the UK, including Ford
Dagenham, AMRC Cymru in Broughton
and Rolls-Royce in Filton.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Michael Gove, who put out the original
call for assistance that led to the
consortium’s establishment, said: “The
Ventilator Challenge has been a great
success and I would like to thank every
manufacturer and designer, and their
incredible workforces, for the huge part
they’ve played in the national effort to
protect our NHS and save lives. In
around three months, industry has
stepped up to make 14,000 new
machines to save lives on the NHS
frontline and to help safeguard against
any future outbreak.
“The Ventilator Challenge has shown
that UK manufacturing always rises to
the challenge at a time of national need.
Everyone involved is truly a hero of the
coronavirus crisis.”
To find out more about the work of
the consortium, and the challenges it
faced during an unprecedented time
for UK manufacturing, read our
interview with Dick Elsy, chairman of
the Ventilator Challenge UK, on p18.
8 www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
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