FOOD PROCESSING & PACKAGING


A NEW BENCHMARK IN WINE BOTTLING


ABM delivers a future- ready bottling facility for Greencroft Bottling’s wine offloading and storage process plant


leading contract wine bottlers, to design and deliver a wine offloading and storage process plant for its Greencroft Two development, a facility setting new benchmarks for capacity, efficiency and product traceability. Drawing on 12 years of collaboration, ABM


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worked closely with Greencroft Bottling’s in- house Project Engineering team to develop a flexible plant capable of handling up to 400 million litres of wine per year. This plant comprises a wine intake system, wine storage tanks (WST), CIP (Clean-in-Place) facilities, water services and a filtration system, all controlled by a custom-designed SCADA system, which monitors quality control and wine storage processing post-transport and pre-bottling. The plant will be implemented in phases as


Greencroft Bottling’s operations transfer from Greencroft One to Greencroft Two. For example, the intake system is initially capable of receiving 35,000 litres of wine per hour, but it will be upgraded over time to increase its capacity to 210,000 litres per hour. The other sections of the plant have been designed to allow similar capacity upgrades. This ambitious Greencroft Two expansion


forms part of Greencroft Bottling’s commitment to investing in industry-leading technology to support its customers, including well-known global brands, major retailers and supermarkets, across domestic and export markets. Key elements delivered by ABM include: • Extensive storage capacity with a novel


routing manifold enabling simultaneous reworking, CIP and product supply to fillers • A robust CIP facility with five cleaning


streams and expansion capability up to eleven bottling lines • Deaerated liquor (DAL), soft water and raw


water services with fully pressure-controlled ring mains • A dual filtration skid fitted with advanced


control for automatic integrity testing and real-time monitoring of filter housing pressure differentials on route to the filler, maintaining a bottling rate of up to 18,000


2 SEPTEMBER 2025 | PROCESS & CONTROL 4


BM, a specialist in process automation and engineering solutions, has partnered with Greencroft Bottling, a


bottles per hour per bottling line. Graham Lindsay, Project Manager at ABM,


commented: “Our long-standing collaboration with Daryl and the Greencroft Bottling team gave us the freedom to develop Greencroft Two with a future-proof mindset. From the first mission statement to the final handover, this partnership approach means we deliver tailored, cost-effective and sustainable solutions that enable both our businesses to grow together.” Daryl Whalen-Griffiths, Engineering Project


Manager at Greencroft Bottling, added: “As Greencroft Two is a new build, it gave us the freedom to be bold in our design, planning for future growth. ABM’s flexibility and ability to think outside the box resulted in a solution bespoke to our needs and a facility ready to evolve with us.” Today, Greencroft Two’s first bottling line has


been operating successfully for nearly a year, providing Greencroft Bottling with the capacity and confidence to meet growing demand while maintaining the highest standards of quality, efficiency and traceability. Work will soon start on the next phase of the


project as further bottling lines are moved from Greencroft One to Greencroft Two. Thanks to provisions made at the design stage, there will be full integration and interoperability between


the equipment installed in the first and second phases, making Greencroft Bottling one of Europe's largest, most versatile and most efficient contract wine bottling plants. A fully customised SCADA system,


developed by Greencroft Bottling with ABM’s support, integrates over 200 electronic sensors, managed via IO-Link technology, which was installed by ABM. This ensures accurate data collection for process monitoring and full product traceability, essential for today’s rigorous quality standards. To facilitate discussions and help validate


design decisions, ABM provided Greencroft Bottling with access to a dummy SCADA system that emulated the operation of the actual plant. At a later stage in the project, the dummy system was used as an aid for operator training. The live SCADA system on the plant makes


extensive use of data from over 200 sensors supplied by ifm. A key feature of these sensors is that they all use IO-Link, a digital technology specifically designed for efficient communication with sensors and actuators. IO-Link greatly reduces the amount of field wiring needed and ensures that accurate data is received, even from sensors at the remotest parts of the plant. A further benefit is that IO-Link supports easy installation expansion, as additional sensors can be added with a minimum of extra wiring. ABM’s engineers used detailed 3D modelling


throughout design to refine the plant layout, address technical challenges early and deliver a cost-effective, practical solution that supports both current and future capacity needs. Commissioning was completed in a staged


handover, with ABM leading initial phases and Greencroft Bottling’s engineering team gradually taking full operational control, ensuring a smooth transition and comprehensive operator training. Remote access functionality provides ongoing support and allows for system enhancements without costly downtime.


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