Stauning Whisky - InitGroup

Food & Beverage | Stauning Whisky

Traditional whisky production based on

cutting-edge automation solution.

Just at the outskirts of Stauning – a small town in rural Jutland in Denmark – lies a top modern, one-of-a-kind whisky distillery. Built in 2018, the distillery combines traditional production methods with innovative automation solutions and a ground-breaking user interface.

Combining innovative automation systems with home-made equipment

To meet rising demands for their high-quality whisky, Stauning Whisky needed to build a new distillery. The ambitions for the new production facilities were to unite innovative thinking and top modern design with traditional production methods.

The complex project entailed many exciting challenges, as Stauning Whisky wished to transfer many of the solutions from its existing production to the new facility. This includes for instance a mechanical cereal turner for floor malting, a home designed mash drum and a quite unique mechanical snail to distribute cereal in the smoke ovens.

As engineers, we love the chance to crack a nut like this one, even if it is complex. For Init, it is the first time that we are part of a large, continuous project, where everything takes place in the TIA portal. The whole TIA project has elevated our business and enabled us to integrate the TIA portal in existing facilities, for instance within dairy and breweries. That strengthens our competitiveness significantly.

Klavs Vestergaard, Senior Project Manager at Init.

Raising the bar for production automation – and whisky making

Init has programmed the entire production control system based on Siemens TIA (Totally Integrated Automation) platform. The top modern facility is equipped with Init’s groundbreaking user interface built on the ISA 101 standard.

The standard is design based on how people act on incoming signals. The screen very clearly shows if there is need for attention somewhere in the process and studies show that production errors are solved faster and better than with the old design. We have designed everything according to Init’s High Performance ISA 101 standard.

explains Henrik Grosen, Project Manager at Init.

The new distillery has enabled Stauning Whisky to multiply production output of their popular high-quality product without compromising on their craft or their traditions. The new production has increased production from 80,000 to 900,000 litres of quality whisky each year. Moreover, Stauning Whisky is anticipating that the top modern and aesthetically beautiful distillery will be able to attract about 50,000 yearly visitors.