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The Glenmore Distillery Opens Its New Technically Advanced Distribution Center

On Thursday, April 28, The Glenmore Distillery opened its 223,000 s.f. revolutionary new distribution center in Owensboro, Ky., which uses satellite technology to store and retrieve pallets of finished goods. The Glenmore Distillery is one of the few spirits suppliers to use this system, called an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS).

In Numbers

  • Owensboro, KY
    Location
  • 223,468 s.f.
    Square Footage
  • Accelerated 12 months
    Operational

The Glenmore Distillery selected Gray Construction to design and build the state-of-the-art facility which features 136,836 s.f. of ASRS space. The ASRS space contains four storage and retrieval machines (or cranes) which operate in four aisles, serving storage lanes anywhere from one pallet to eight pallets deep, and storing seven levels high. Each crane can induct/output 90 pallets of finished goods per hour or a total of 360 pallets moving within the system.  The ASRS contains 52 pallet staging lanes which can hold 416 total pallets.  The system also contains an automated layer pick system, capable of moving 150 layers per hour.  Storage capacity within the layer pick system is 255 SKU’s. The ASRS was installed by Westfalia Technologies, Inc.

 

“We’re pleased our business has grown enough to support such a highly advanced distribution center,” said Chris Stout, plant general manager, The Glenmore Distillery.  “We look forward to being able to serve our customers in a more efficient manner and being prepared for potential future growth.”

 

 

This $45 million investment is part of parent company Sazerac’s $71 million investment in the state of Kentucky at its three distilleries: the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, another Gray project, also added a new distribution center which opened last summer, and the Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown added new equipment to improve production capacity in 2015. In addition to Sazerac’s $71 million investment, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) granted tax incentives totaling approximately $7.4 million between the three Sazerac sites.

 

A private grand opening was held for the new distribution center for media and invited guests.

 

The Glenmore Distillery has been a fixture in the Owensboro Community since the late 1800s. Originally called the Monarch Distillery, James Thompson re-named it The Glenmore Distillery after the Glenmore Castle near his birthplace in County Derry, Northern Ireland. During Prohibition, The Glenmore Distillery was fortunate enough to be one of four distilleries in the country allowed to operate on a limited scale for medicinal necessity.

 

Surviving tragedies such as flood and fire, the distillery went on to fill its two millionth barrel of whiskey in 1946. In 1973 it was producing 540 barrels a day. Although distilling operations ceased in 1973, bottling and warehousing continued at The Glenmore Distillery.

 

In March of 2009 the Sazerac Company purchased the Distillery and reprised the name The Glenmore Distillery. The Distillery boasts one of the largest and most modern bottling facilities in the country and continues to be a sizable employer in the city of Owensboro, KY.  For more information visit www.sazerac.com.

 

Gray Construction, is a nationally ranked engineering, architecture and construction firm with over 56 years of experience in manufacturing, automotive, food and beverage, distribution, hospitality and retail facility construction. Currently, Gray has several large projects that are underway or recently completed including: a Mercedes-Benz manufacturing facility in Vance, Ala.; a specialty pet food kitchen and distribution center for Champion Petfoods in Auburn, Ky. ; a fresh pork processing facility in Coldwater, Michigan for Clemens Food Group; a Keurig manufacturing facility in Douglasville, Ga.; a utility vehicle manufacturing facility for Kubota Manufacturing of America Corporation in Gainesville, Ga.; an expansion to Wrigley’s Yorkville, Ill. campus; and a manufacturing facility for Weber Metals in Paramount, Calif.

 

If you have food and beverage plant construction needs, please contact Phil Seale, executive vice president, Manufacturing/Food & Beverage Groups at pseale@gray.com. Or, contact Tyler Cundiff, director, Business Development at tcundiff@gray.com.

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