Casa Sauza: Model of Digital Transformation in Tequila Production

Casa Sauza, with the help of Festo, adopts Industry 4.0 methods to advance its automation of Tequila production in Mexico.

Casa Sauza CEO trains on data analytics
“We are making our team grow and training all its members on data analytics, so they are able to interpret them, detect patterns, and keep improving based on these analysis”, says Eng. Servando Calderón, CEO of Casa Sauza.
Casa Sauza

Nearly a century and a half of operations has made Casa Sauza, owned by the multinational Beam Suntory, a pioneer brand in the production of iconic Mexican tequilas. Since beginning operations in 1873, Casa Sauza, located in Tequila, Jalisco, has used numerous distillation and preparation methods for its tequilas, ranging from manual production to fully automated processes. The company is now focusing on integrating Industry 4.0 production concepts.

Casa Sauza Tequila increases production efficiency by 20%According to data gathered since 2018, efficiency in Casa Sauza has grown by 20%, while critical defect cases have been reduced by 50%. Another indicator of higher efficiency under the Industry 4.0 model is the flexibility of filling lines, currently running more than 100 different products with diverse presentations and bottle shapes.Casa Sauza

Also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Industry 4.0 represents a transformation involving the use of advanced technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence, as well as integrating communications among all systems and connecting them to cloud or edge systems for data analytics, remote monitoring, and continuous operational improvements.

At Casa Sauza, Festo MĂ©xico, a supplier of pneumatic and electric control and processing technologies, has played a significant role in the company’s move towards greater digitalization of its production operations.

Mundo PMMI spoke with Servando CalderĂłn, CEO of Casa Sauza, as well as operations leaders and members of the Festo Mexico team involved in the digital transformation of Casa Sauza. They described to us the advancements they have made and their vision for further advances at Casa Sauza.

Casa Sauza CEO trains on data analytics“We are making our team grow and training all its members on data analytics, so they are able to interpret them, detect patterns, and keep improving based on these analysis”, says Eng. Servando Calderón, CEO of Casa Sauza.Casa Sauza

 A shared experience

 As much as Industry 4.0 is about technology, it also depends on the abilities of production-line operators. To enhance Casa Sauza employees’ abilities, Festo implemented a program to develop specific operational and maintenance skills as well as “soft skills”, such as adaptation to change, accountability, resilience, and emotional intelligence —all of which are required to comprehend and successfully navigate the new panorama drawn by Industry 4.0.

 â€śIn the field of Industry 4.0 it does not suffice to own the technology, but also to have an understanding of the processes and to coach the team throughout the developments”, said HĂ©ctor RamĂ­rez, Festo MĂ©xico applications engineer for the food and packaging market.

The combination of technologies and personnel training carried out at Casa Sauza has translated into greater levels of operator autonomy to control their equipment. For example, in the processing areas where manual adjustments or preliminary inspections were made, such steps are no longer necessary. “It is what we call non-touch, non-stop manufacturing,” Eng. Servando CalderĂłn explains, “which leads us towards higher productivity with a four-zeros model: zero accidents, zero defects, zero failures, and zero waste.”

Calderón says that, in addition to the greater productivity and precise process control provided by Industry 4.0 technologies, the elimination of waste, in every sense, is a critical factor for the company. “The most important loss is the waste of the human brain by using it for tasks that do not add any value; [eliminating this kind of waste] is not only about adding value to the company, but also to the person who performs the job,” he says.

Mexican Tequila, Casa Sauza, and Industry 4.0Casa Sauza, through its incursion in the world of Industry 4.0, has become a benchmark in automation for the tequila and spirits industry.Casa Suaza

Fiction becomes reality

The training supplied by Festo has helped Industry 4.0 concepts trickle down from managers directly to Casa Sauza’s bottling operations and distillation processes. To highlight the most important teachings the company has gleaned from these new perspectives, Calderón points to an “awakening among our team that what we used to contemplate as something resembling science fiction—robotics and advanced automation—is now within reach.”

For Casa Sauza, the relevance of adopting Industry 4.0 is directly related to improved productivity and enhanced competitiveness for the company based on the optimization of worker skills. “One thing we now see is that our people have ceased to carry out routine, physical, or managerial activities that do not add any value. We are training all of our team members on data analytics, so they are able to interpret them, detect patterns, and keep improving based on these analyses. I am convinced that this will truly differentiate us and push us ahead of our competitors,” says Calderón.