O.Z. Tyler, Post Destroyed Aging Warehouse, Embraces Monitoring Tech

The recent warehouse disasters at O.Z. Tyler and Jim Beam, if they’ve taught the bourbon industry anything, is that you can’t have enough ways to monitor the structural integrity of these valuable buildings. The distillery team at the former in particular has become highly sensitive to this fact, and is now implementing what’s said to be real time technology to monitor rick houses for future possible catastrophes.

O.Z. Tyler, it is said, has teamed up with StructuRight Structural Health Monitoring Systems out of Kentucky to implement an industry first use of real time technology to monitor its aging warehouses “around the clock.” How it works specifically is that StructuRight installs a special smart sensor inside or outside of a building such as a rick house to keep track of a variety of conditions which can impact building integrity such as distance, angle, vibration, temperature, and humidity. This data is reported through an app-based system to those in charge of keeping up on such issues.

“We are always looking for new ways to improve operations at our Distillery and are confident this new technology will do just that,” said Jacob Call, master distiller and director of operations at O.Z. Tyler, in a prepared statement. “After the recent partial collapse of Warehouse H, which was a weather related event, we immediately began looking for better ways to monitor buildings to have the best possible measures in place to ensure the safety of our employees, neighbors and the community. StructuRight’s Smart Sensing Unit will provide us just that.”

Call noted as well that the industry as a whole should always be looking for better and more efficient ways to monitor buildings. “As a signature industry for Kentucky, we all have a responsibility to keep our buildings safe, secure and to protect the environment. I hope other distillers will follow suit and adopt the new monitoring system.”

StructuRight will work in conjunction with the structural engineers at O.Z. Tyler to make certain the monitoring points are exactly where they need to be for maximum effectiveness inside the rick houses. Installation is planned for September.