The BBC’s recent investigation into whisky scammers has escalated the issue and many say spells the beginning of the end for fraudsters.
As a result, the move to digital is priority number one for many – a topic we spoke about in a recent webinar ‘How technology unlocks new efficiencies and greater compliance’
One warehouse leading the way is BWA member, The Foundry Vault, which is setting a new standard for operational excellence in whisky maturation through its use of fellow BWA member Proof 8’s distillery and warehouse management platform. Their adoption of the technology is trailblazing the future of whisky warehousing and transparent cask ownership. In The Foundry Vault’s own words, the impact has been ‘game-changing’.
Before implementing Proof 8, the Foundry Vault managed data manually via spreadsheets – a process that had become increasingly inefficient as their business grew. Today, The Foundry Vault has full transparency and traceability of every aspect of their entire operation, from the minute a cask enters their warehouse to the minute it leaves. They have the tools to optimise available capacity, efficiently complete operational tasks and importantly, they have absolute confidence that the data they hold and manage for every cask under their care is correct, including proof of ownership with Digital Deeds.
The BWA recently caught up with Jacqui Hanna, warehousekeeper and co-director at The Foundry Vault and Rob Hollands, CEO of Proof 8, to find out more.
Firstly, let’s start off with why digitalise – what operational challenges does technology help you overcome?
Jacqui: Warehousing and purchasing whiskey can be a very blind process. The challenges we face today are more complex than ever. As warehousekeepers, we are liable to take all the risk and responsibility in storing casks for the duration of their time with us. We need to facilitate the smooth day-to-day running of our operations, account for every single cask, whilst protecting ourselves in the process. We need 100% confidence that the data we hold on every asset is accurate and up-to-date, and that we can access that data quickly when needed. This is especially crucial with WOWGR reform and increased compliance demands.
Truthfully, manual systems were holding us back.
If we were still fully reliant on spreadsheets or an old legacy system to manage cask data, I’d be really worried right now. There’s no room for error in whiskey warehousing, and our old system using spreadsheets left us vulnerable. For a short period of time, using spreadsheets was fine, but as we expanded, and the number of barrels we stored grew, so did the volume of cask data. We’re a relatively small team and this approach wasn’t scalable. We were finding we were getting bogged down with admin and we wanted to enable our team to focus on other things, as opposed to admin.
With barrels moving constantly between warehouses and distilleries, we were only getting half of the data when processing barrels on arrival from distilleries. Data wasn’t standardised in the same format and this was causing delays and extra time to correct.
Every warehouse needs to be meticulous about data integrity and accuracy today if they are to be compliant. But being compliant takes a careful balance between precision and efficiency.
What about cask ownership?
Jacqui: We could clearly see that things were changing in cask ownership and we needed to change to. Traceability was now non-negotiable. Title deed holders and brokers were demanding complete assurance about the casks we stored: their provenance, current status, ownership details and location.
Paper-based certificates are no longer acceptable. People rightly demand robust proof of ownership and we needed a system to provide this. Proof 8 could provide this offering Digital Deeds for every cask we store. This took away any ambiguity over ownership.
Rob: Moving away from paper-based records, certificates of ownership, and unreliable tools like Excel, provides a real opportunity for better data across the whole industry, for cask ownership, and for enhancing maturation and production processes.
On the Proof 8 platform every cask that enters a warehouse is ‘born digital’ and assigned a digital identity (ID) with associated QR code. This provides a permanent record of the key data associated with each item. Everything from its origin, age, ownership, ABV to location in the warehouse. Every crucial piece of information is collected, stored and tracked on the platform throughout the asset’s entire lifetime. Data is recorded securely on the blockchain and provides an audit trail for anyone involved to see, from HMRC to brokers and managing agents to cask owners.
What does the Proof 8 platform do?
Rob: Our platform gives warehousekeepers full visibility of their operation, it gives them back control. It allows them to track and manage every single workflow and process, consolidating real-time data in an intuitive, centralised platform that delivers incredible insight into the day-to-day running of their business. It’s been built in collaboration with warehouses and distilleries to meet their exact needs, and is constantly evolving to meet new challenges.
Jacqui: Proof 8 follows workflows we’re all familiar with to make day-to-day tasks much simpler. Everyone in the warehouse can use it, as well as anyone in accounts to produce reports for HMRC. At the click of a button, we can see everything. We don’t have to continually check over data like we would have had to in Excel.
When lorries now come into the warehouse with a delivery, within half an hour to an hour we have all cask data logged and recorded on the Proof 8 platform. All the data is then immediately available for anyone to access.
Proof 8 has allowed us to remove the old paper-based certificate system around cask ownership. Especially useful around change of ownership. Previously when something would sell, we had no way of knowing if the original certificate had been surrendered or if it was still floating around for someone to claim ownership at a later date. Now, because of Proof 8, we have full visibility of that Digital Deed being transferred to the new owner. This is incredibly important to us as the warehouse storing the asset, but also the cask owner and for audit purposes for HMRC.
Why Proof 8?
Jacqui: The platform needed to be easy to use and we’ve got that. Proof 8 is very user-friendly.
We set out to streamline our operations and gain more transparency, all without sacrificing the craftsmanship that goes into producing and storing Irish Whiskey, and we’ve achieved that. The Proof 8 team understood this from day one. This has been a great partnership.
