The 138-year-old distillery uses IFS NexusBlack to shift from reactive repairs to predictive maintenance, saving millions and keeping production flowing.
By connecting live sensor data with historic asset information, William Grant & Sons can flag potential problems well before an alarm sounds. This proactive approach reduces downtime, increases output, and improves first-time fix rates across the distillery.
Estimated savings (£)
Saved annually at the Girvan site through predictive maintenance.
Reactive repairs
Of repairs were emergencies before implementing IFS NexusBlack.
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Nearly 40% of repairs at the Girvan distillery were for emergencies, not proactive maintenance. Faults were caught only after the alarm sounded, meaning more downtime and stifled output. The 138-year-old distillery needed a way to move from fixing problems to predicting them.
William Grant & Sons chose IFS NexusBlack because it offered practical, fast innovation connected to real results. The solution understood their specific industry needs rather than applying a generic approach.
Nearly 40% of repairs at the Girvan distillery were emergency responses — faults caught only after alarms sounded, leading to more downtime and stifled output . The goal was to shift from reactive maintenance to a predictive model that could get ahead of problems before they caused disruption.
Nexus Black plugged into every system at the distillery — including piping and instrumentation diagrams — and combined live sensor data with historic asset records . The system can flag a potential problem well before a sensor would trigger an alarm, and analyse how a specific fault will impact the entire distillery.
Working on the factory floor revealed a simple truth: a text-based chatbot is no use to an engineer wearing protective gloves . The solution was built voice-first — letting technicians diagnose faults, report fixes, and capture sensor data just by talking. Those insights feed directly into accurate work orders, and everything learned goes back into the system to build future resilience .
Once in business-as-usual mode, William Grant & Sons estimates savings of £8.4 million a year at Girvan . That figure is driven by higher first-time fix rates, less downtime, and increased overall output — proof that deploying AI at speed and scale delivers real, measurable value .
