Project overview

Sector: Food & Beverage – Spirits Manufacture
Location: Scotland
Expertise: Electrical design and panel build, advanced vision systems, software integration, system engineering and delivery
Scope: Design, build, test, install & commission

Client and their requirements

The client is a global leader in premium spirits manufacture, producing and distributing some of the world’s most recognised whisky brands. It also operates Europe’s largest maturation and cask disgorging site, which produces whisky for many of the company’s world-renowned labels.

To address product loss and improve operational performance, the client initiated a project to measure and analyse cask performance through enhanced monitoring and data capture at the point of disgorging.

During maturation, spirit stored in casks is gradually lost through evaporation or leakage – commonly known as the “Angel’s Share”. With HMRC allowing for losses of up to 2% per year, minimising liquid loss is critical to maintaining production volumes and protecting financial performance.

Spirit is naturally lost through absorption, evaporation and leakage creating significant production management and commercial challenges. These are driven by:

• Ongoing liquid losses across millions of casks
• Limited visibility of performance at individual cask level
• Constraints in making operational decisions at scale.

At the client’s palletised conveyor, additional complexities are also present, including:

• Multiple casks processed simultaneously
• Inconsistent barcode positioning across cask tops
• Requirement to maintain high throughput without compromising accuracy.

Therefore, the customer required a solution capable of delivering reliable, scalable insight across high-volume operations, while maintaining full traceability and data integrity.

The solution

Kigtek developed a high-throughput, AI-enabled monitoring system integrated with its proprietary CaskTEK platform, and tailored it specifically to palletised disgorging operations. The solution transformed the plant into an intelligent, data-enabled production environment capable of capturing and analysing performance data at scale.

The new palletised process includes:

1. Scalable cask identification

• Each cask is assigned a permanent QR code, ensuring it can be tracked throughout its life cycle.
• A high-speed vision system captures multiple casks at pallet level, enabling accurate identification and traceability across high-throughput operations.

2. Intelligent barcode detection with AI

• An advanced AI-enabled vision system scans the tops of palletised casks, identifying barcodes regardless of position or orientation.
• The system automatically maps each barcode to its physical cask location and validates that all casks are assigned to the correct blend prior to disgorging.

3. Automated disgorging and quality capture

• Whisky is extracted from each cask using disgorging lances within a controlled process.
• During extraction, key quality parameters – including Alcohol by Volume (ABV) and tint – are captured automatically and assigned to each individual cask.

4. Data processing and performance analysis

• All captured data is processed in real time through the CaskTEK platform, converting operational measurements into actionable performance insights.
• By analysing disgorge data against fill records, the client can assess cask performance across large volumes – informing decisions on reuse, repair, or replacement.
• With each cask carrying a permanent unique ID, performance can also be tracked across multiple fill cycles, enabling long-term optimisation of cask utilisation, and reducing avoidable product loss.

Key Operational Improvements

Designed as a deployable engineering solution built around the client’s operations, the system enables efficient, high-throughput processing without compromising data quality. Its main operational benefits include:

• Scalable traceability across pallet operations which enables accurate tracking of multiple casks  within dynamic, high-speed environments.
• Identification and validation that removes reliance on manual processes while improving accuracy and consistency.
• High-volume data capture and analysis which converts operational data into actionable insight across the operation.
• Consistent quality measurement that enabled through standardised ABV and tint capture across all processed casks.

Commercial impact

By combining AI, automation and data analytics, Kigtek has delivered measurable commercial value for this global spirits manufacturer – namely:

• Potential savings in the tens of millions of pounds annually, driven by:
  • Reduced product loss
  • Improved cask lifecycle management
  • Increased operational efficiency
• Enabled data-led optimisation and improved productivity at scale, supporting better operational decisions.
• Establishes a future‑ready, technology‑enabled model that delivers sustained value across ongoing and future maturation cycles.

Technology

• CaskTEK – modern web-based application and real-time reporting
• AI-enabled vision systems
• Industrial imaging and automated barcode recognition.

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