AI Condition Monitoring System Prevents Beverage Production Downtime

Soft drink manufacturer Britvic partnered with equipment provider Alfa Laval to deploy an AI-based condition monitoring solution for rotating machinery across its hygienic process lines. This automated diagnostic technology directly mitigates costly unplanned downtime, equipment failure, and resource waste in large-scale beverage manufacturing applications.

Challenges in Continuous Beverage Production
At its Rugby facility in the United Kingdom, Britvic operates hundreds of pumps to support continuous manufacturing across multiple beverage lines. In hygienic process industries, unexpected pump failures create a cascading operational impact, typically resulting in immediate production halts, extensive product loss, and mandatory sanitation cycles. Historically, facilities have relied on scheduled manual inspections or reactive maintenance models that only address equipment faults after a breakdown occurs. Britvic sought to shift toward a preventative model to secure equipment uptime, improve raw material efficiency, and minimize the excess water usage associated with emergency line cleaning.

Implementing AI-Based Machine Diagnostics
To address these mechanical vulnerabilities, the facility deployed Alfa Laval's Clariot, a condition monitoring platform engineered for hygienic environments. The architecture combines intelligent sensors, secure connectivity, and artificial intelligence to provide continuous diagnostics of rotating equipment. Operating independently from the plant's core automation network, the system analyzes vibration and operational data 24/7 to identify process anomalies, installation irregularities, and early-stage mechanical wear. The agnostic nature of the platform allowed Britvic to scale the monitoring hardware across various pump brands utilized throughout their production lines.




Operational Impact and Preventative Maintenance
Following deployment, the diagnostic system detected abnormal operational parameters on a critical processing pump. The software alerted operators to the developing fault well before a physical failure could disrupt the manufacturing process. Armed with this early warning, the engineering team scheduled the required maintenance during a pre-planned production stop. The repair was completed in 45 minutes, entirely avoiding a forecasted six hours of unplanned system downtime.

Measurable Resource Savings
The data-driven intervention yielded significant, quantifiable savings for the facility. By maintaining the integrity of the process line, Britvic prevented the loss of 288,000 bottles of product and avoided utilizing 2,000 liters of water that would have been required for emergency cleaning procedures.

“Just this one notification paid for our entire investment in the condition monitoring solution,” noted Chris Heslop, Engineering Specialist at Britvic’s Rugby facility.

Torsten Pedersen, Commercial Head of Condition Monitoring at Alfa Laval Fluid Handling, highlighted that automated diagnostics serve dual operational goals. By catching equipment degradation early, manufacturers in hygienic process industries can directly link machine uptime with facility sustainability metrics by eliminating both product waste and excessive utility consumption.

Edited by Aishwarya Mambet, Induportals Editor, with AI assistance.

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