XpertRule found to be under
the influence of Whisky!
Information on this system has also appeared in the press.
The London TIMES Newspaper printed a short piece, and a larger story
appeared in COMPUTING. A detailed article also appeared in PC AI
magazine.
A break from tradition in blend selection at United Distillers & Vintners
United Distillers is, quite simply, the largest and most profitable
spirits company in the world. The company plays a crucial role in
the Scotch whisky industry; owning 27 malt distilleries that cover
all four whisky producing regions - Speyside, Highland, Lowland
and Island. Apart from including evocative names such as Cragganmore,
Dalwhinnie, Glenkinchie, Lagavulin, Oban and Talisker, these distilleries
account for almost one third of the total industry capacity. United Distillers' two grain distilleries account for more than one third
of total grain whisky production and the company's Johnnie Walker
Red Label brand is the world's top whisky, achieving sales of seven
million cases during 1994.
The fact that 2½ million people have been through the 12
visitor centres in Scotland reflects a general fascination with
the history, tradition and mystique of the industry. However, Christine
Wright, Inventory and Supply Manager at United Distillers, points
out that some parts of the business attract less attention than
others: "Each week, 20,000 casks are moved in and out of our
49 warehouses throughout Scotland to provide the whisky needed for
the blending programme. Warehousing is a physical and laborious
process and has tended to be the forgotten side of the business."
However, the introduction of expert systems computer technology
during the past year has given a fillip to the blend selection process
at United Distillers.
 In
addition to Red Label, United Distillers produces some 60 blended
whisky brands, including Bell's (the best-selling Scotch whisky
in the UK), Dewar's White Label (the best selling Scotch whisky
in the USA) and Johnnie Walker Black Label (the most awarded Scotch
whisky in the world). Meeting the requirements of tightly guarded
recipes for blends such as these involves the combination of a variety
of factors. As well as the proportions and numbers of malt and grain
whisky types and the different makes (from different distilleries),
criteria are set for the wood profile of casks (new wood, refill,
bourbon casks or sherry casks), the use of mandatory makes and years,
and the overall year profile. Achieving these quality constraints
is mandatory, but the logistical challenge of locating suitable
casks is less restrictive: "We want to maximise our operational
efficiency without compromising the quality," states Christine
Wright. However, United Distillers' Blackgrange warehouse site alone
houses around 3 million casks, indicating the scale of the challenge.
In practice, 50% of the casks that were being moved were not required
- simply allowing access to those identified by the selection process.
With casks ranging from 200 litre (bulk volume) barrels to 500 litre
butts, it is not surprising that this wasted effort was the cause
of some friction between the warehouses and staff working at Distillers
House in Edinburgh. "We might just as well have been on Mars,
as far as they were concerned," comments Christine Wright.
"Although we had 100% accurate positional information about
all the stock, casks had to be selected numerically. Given the practical
challenges involved in warehouse management, casks are seldom stored
numerically."
Operating on a large Digital VAX at United Distillers, their warehouse
administration system and an associated bar-coding scheme provided
details of the site and exact position of the whisky stock within
each warehouse. Now, United Distillers is using a Windows-based
system operating "XpertRule" as part of a client/server
solution to optimise the blend and cask selection process.
 Information
held on the VAX about recipes, site constraints and the blending
programme is given to the XpertRule system, which works out the
best combinations of stocks to produce the blends. This information
is then supplemented with positional information about the casks
from the VAX. The system then optimises the selection of required
casks, keeping to a minimum the number of "doors" (warehouse
sections) from which the casks must be taken and the number of casks
which need to be moved to clear the way. Other constraints must
be satisfied, such as the current working capacity of each warehouse
and the maintenance and re-stocking work that may be in progress.
The whole process takes around 24 hours to run, normally starting
on Friday and providing the complete weekly schedule back to the
VAX for Monday morning.
Lancashire-based expert systems specialist, XpertRule Software Limited,
has worked closely with United Distillers to develop the software
application using XpertRule. The system is based on the use of "genetic
algorithms" and adopts the Darwinian principle of natural selection
to optimise the selection process. The random creation of solutions
(chromosomes) and mixing of the parameters (genes) creates new chromosomes
that have the greatest "fitness to survive".
United Distillers has seen significant commercial benefits since
the system was delivered towards the end of 1994, as United Distillers'
Commercial Director - Operations, Turnbull Hutton, points out: "The
incidence of non-productive cask movements has plummeted from a
high of around 50% to a negligible level of around 4% and our cask
handling rates have almost doubled." He adds: "The new
technology enables staff to concentrate on what they want to achieve,
rather than the mechanism of how to go about it. They can concentrate
on the constraints that they wish to impose and get the system to
do the leg work of finding the best scenario within those constraints.
It means that the business can be driven by primary objectives."
Currently, access is required to around 130 doors each week; which
is around half the level before the new system was installed. Not
surprisingly, the system has improved relationships between the
Distillers House and warehouse staff. Although the "Positive
Partnership Deal" operated by United Distillers means that
none of the warehouse staff affected by the efficiencies will be
faced with redundancy, enthusiasm has been expressed quite openly
by those involved in pulling out the casks for each week's blending,
as Christine Wright points out: "The system has been so successful
in identifying casks within the warehouses that some of our chaps
seemed to expect the casks to leap from the racks onto the vans."
Warehouse staff are now asked to provide weekly information about
the maximum number of casks they are able to move on any site, warehouses
that may only receive or despatch casks, as well as details of other
restrictions that might apply, such as upgrading warehouse facilities
or constraints resulting from inclement weather. These constraints
are added to the variables assessed by the XpertRule system and
help to guide the selection process. Christine Wright explains that
there are important by-products resulting from an ability to take
account of these issues: "Not only does the lack of wasted
effort allow warehouse staff to get on with their work, but it enables
them to plan ahead and organize long-term maintenance programmes.
It encourages a mind-set that is strategic, rather than reactive,
and empowers managers to manage their own sites."
Five full-time staff used to be employed at Distillers House to
handle the blend selection. "It was a boring and repetitive
process," says Christine Wright. "The actual process of
blend selection now involves only a few keystrokes and three hours
of one person's time. The other staff can therefore be involved
in more interesting work. Realistically, it is wholly impractical
for people to do what the XpertRule system now achieves."
The recent history of recession and distillery closures has raised
the importance of striving for efficiencies. Although Turnbull Hutton
is enthusiastic about the dramatic results that have been possible
in the blend selection process, he recognises that this is not enough:
"Being the biggest in the world means that the scope for improvement
is also greatest. We have achieved considerable savings in the one
year this system has been in use and are considering other areas
that can be drawn in." He concludes: "We are also talking
with other distillers who have expressed interest in the new system.
Ultimately, we are all in the same boat - safeguarding a Scottish
industry - and co-operation is vital."
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