Over the next five years, it is estimated that investments in 5G networks could save Scottish whisky distilleries up to a total of £30 million, a new report has revealed.
The Scotland 5G Centre revealed that medium to large distilleries could encounter potential benefits of £376,500 if 5G services were to be implemented across the country. Design and maintenance consultancy Jacobs led the investigation, ultimately identifying four critical sectors where 5G could provide support; health and safety, site management, cask management and maintenance and security.
Based on primary data and research from a Scottish distillery, the report found that 5G-enabled surveillance and monitoring services could see security breaches reduced by half, by the introduction of automated and remote security measures. Whatsmore, 5G-enabled geofencing holds the potential to also halve the number of health and safety incidents by sending alerts to staff entering high-risk areas.
As for cask management efficiency, this could see improvements of 15% through the use of 5G Radio Frequency Identification systems (RFID), for accurate data collection and monitoring of cask location across the distillery.
The study also revealed that distilleries across Scotland could see profits of £125,000 as a result of increased labor productivity in the cask management process itself. By reducing manual records, greater accuracy and reliability in inventory could be achieved in this area. Granular asset mapping, equipment tracking, streamlined planning and task sequencing also seek to reduce downtime by 50%, should 5G be enabled across the region.
As Scotland’s whisky industry stands as a key player for both national heritage and the economy, with global exports totalling an excess of £6 billion, the findings demonstrate 5G’s potential for revolutionizing and future-proofing the industry.
