• ​Glenfarclas Whisky Distil a New Form of Communication

    | Case Study

Glenfarclas is a Scottish Whisky company, owned by the same family and passed down through six generations over the past 152 years. The distillery produces around 3.5 million litres of alcohol each year. Their finest quality Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky is still made in the same traditional Speyside way.

Before meeting authorised Hytera dealer ANT Telecom, Glenfarclas had no means of communication between their mobile staff. With poor reception around the distillery, smartphones were simply not an option. If staff wished to talk to a colleague in the distillery they would have to go about it the old-fashioned way, by walking around the premises until they’d tracked down the relevant person. Not ideal, especially when urgent messages needed to be delivered.

The Solution

After meeting with authorised Hytera dealer ANT Telecom, it became clear to Glenfarclas that a Digital Mobile Radio solution was needed. This would not only add value to the business but also improve efficiency as well as save time and money.

To solve Glenfarclas’ communication problems, ANT Telecom supplied the operation with a number of Hytera handsets as well as an alarm module. This alarm module integrated with their effluent plant system, triggering alarms if there was a fault. The alarms would then notify the dedicated on call staff members allowing any issues to be resolved quickly.

This entire solution was delivered efficiently and cost effectively without putting pressure on Glenfarclas’ resources. It was important that the new systems would quickly demonstrate an improvement to the distillery processes without affecting the running of the company during the installation period.

Results

With the new Hytera radio system Glenfarclas were able to save staff valuable time while also increasing productivity and saving money in the long run. Staff are now able to contact members in and around the distillery with ease.

This solution has also allowed Glenfarclas to get up and running quickly and easily after an incident. Previously this would have taken them days while also using up more chemicals, electricity and manpower to deal with the backlog. Now incidents can be identified almost immediately, being investigated and resolved rapidly.

“Not only are the radios saving staff valuable time and increasing productivity, as a result of a reduction in any downtime, the system could save a significant amount of money.”
Callum Fraser, Production Manager at Glenfarclas