inver house distillers

INVER HOUSE
DISTILLERS
Case Study
PALLET RACKING
The UK’s largest manufacturer of Pallet Racking, Shelving and Lockers
LINK 51 HELP INVER HOUSE
CONSOLIDATE MATURATION PROCESS
Inver House Distillers is part of International Beverage Holdings
Limited (InterBev) - the international arm of Asia's leading drinks
business, the Thai Beverage Public Company Ltd (ThaiBev). Within
its portfolio there are five distilleries - Pulteney, Balblair, Knockdhu,
Speyburn and Balmenach - each producing its own distinctive,
individual single malt whisky.
Inver House is also highly active in the warehousing and blending of
Scotch whisky, with its main warehouses and head office being
centrally located in Airdrie.
Beyond whisky production, Inver House currently distils the
premium brand, Caorunn Gin at Balmenach Distillery, and also
produces vodka brands from its Airdrie site.
The Brief
With increasing worldwide demand for
their whisky products, Inver House had to
look at increasing capacity across their 6
sites for storage of sherry butts, used in the
maturation of high value single malt
products. Space at their 5 distilleries was
extremely limited due to their traditional
dunnage type warehouse arrangement, so
a solution at the central Airdrie site was the
preferred option. As all sherry butts
previously held at the Airdrie site were
stored at ground level in traditional
palletised warehouses, spread across the
entire site, the logistics of moving these
casks to the process areas was very
inefficient. This method of storage also
presented a risk of damage to the integrity
of the casks and final product. The decision
to centralise the storage of the sherry butts
within the Airdrie site not only increased
operational efficiency, but ensured the
casks and their high value contents, could
be monitored more frequently.
As Link 51’s racking solution for the
Macallan Distillery at Craigellachie in
Moray, Speyside for the Edrington Group
was well known across the Scottish whisky
industry, it was this case study that
provided the impetus for Inver House to
submit proposals for a similar racking
capability at their Airdrie site.
Given the uniform dimensions of the sherry
butts and the quantities they needed to
“Link 51 was first class throughout the project. From our initial discussions, through to the installation itself, they
created confidence through a structured process and it was clear that we were in safe hands.”
James Preston, Production Manager, Inver House Distillers Ltd
store, Inver House arrived at a scaleable
solution to match their needs. The racking
requirement was put to tender and Link 51
were eventually chosen to deliver the
project because of their track record of
providing bespoke racking solutions to the
whisky industry, including the recent
installation at the Macallan Distillery.
The Solution
Link 51 installed a storage system to
accommodate up to 576 sherry butts to a
height of 8 levels and to 9 butts deep on
each level. A specially constructed stairway
to one side provides access to each level
and its corresponding walkways. As a
direct benefit, Inver House was able to
store extra capacity in a relatively small
warehouse footprint which in turn will help
increase overall efficiency within the
distillery operation.
An additional feature of the solution are
the rack end stops that prevent the butts
from tumbling off the racking once placed
on the rails. The stops tilt to allow the butts
to be loaded and then returns to the
vertical position once the butt has moved
clear of it.
By using Link 51, Inver House benefited
from:
l UK-based in-house manufacturing
capability
l Fully managed market-leading storage
solutions
l Extensive project management expertise
l Substantial industry specific knowledge
and experience
l High-quality product range combining
strength, durability and operational
reliability
PALLET RACKING
Link 51 (Storage Products)
Link House, Halesford 6, Telford TF7 4LN
Tel: 0800 169 51561
Fax: 01384 472 599
Email: enquiries@link51.co.uk
Web: www.link51.co.uk
Note:
This publication shows general concepts only, and should not be used as a guide for specific design or assembly purposes.
Link 51 reserves the right to alter the specification on any of these products, in the customers interest, without prior notification.
InverHouseDistillers/2014.25.11/Issue1