John Dears Whiskey - Automatic Loading Solutions
John Dewars whiskey, located in Poniel, Lesmahagow, uses the Joloda Moving Floor for unloading and loading of palletised whisky barrels. The system operates in the brand new drain and fill site and brings safety and efficiency to the handling of the whisky barrels during the maturation process.
The John Dewars site drains the whisky from the barrels brought out from storage then re-fill with new whisky for bond storage. The whisky is stored for up to 20 years. This maturation site has 44 bonds each containing 20,000 barrels of whisky.
The 2 moving floor systems were acquired by the company in 2013 as part of the new build for the safe handling of the barrels and also to eliminate damage of the barrels. The 2 automated docks are situated side by side, one for unloading the trailer and one for loading. The full automated trailer is completely unloaded in just under 5 minutes.
McGowan Engineering of Glasgow were the company awarded the contract to build the automated new drain and fill site conveyor complex and they specified the Joloda Moving Floor docks. A Moving floor is a highly efficient flexible slat conveyor for trailer to dock load and unload. With its high speed, low weight it is ideal for short trailer shuttle operations, it has the capabilities to load a trailer in less than one minute. The trailers systems are Atex certified (explosion proof) to contend with any unforeseen spillages.
A full Joloda Moving Floor trailer arrives to the site with 96 barrels of whisky (34,000 litres), from the storage bond and reverses onto a 5th wheel levelling plate which locks the trailer in position for secure loading/unloading. The system is powered electrically and the slat conveyor moves, simply rolling the barrels out on to the dock. The whisky inside is then sucked out to be transported away by tanker to be bottled and sold throughout the world. These barrels are then immediately refilled with fresh whisky on the same conveyor line then re-loaded on to the next trailer using the loading moving floor dock next to it and they are driven to the bond again for storage for anywhere from 4 – 20 years! This process is continuous throughout the day, 7 days a week! There are 6 automatic trailers which were purchased and are dedicated for this loading process. Joloda have fitted special guides in these trailers to protect the barrels from lean in transit.
No forklifts are needed at all at the drain and fill complex, it is a complete 100% automated system which is quick, safe and protects the expensive whisky! This new bond was built in 2013 to cope with the ever increasing sales of whisky across the world. Atex certified fork trucks are used at the outload/unload of all maturation houses to pick up and place pallets of whisky barrels onto the MFS of the Joloda trailer which automatically indexes the barrels in/out of the trailer.
Once again Joloda are the number one choice in the whisky industry and are proved to be safe and reliable over 15 years exposure.
