Industrial Talk is onsite at Xcelerate 2026 and talking to Jake Rearden and Nolan Boswell with Green River Distilling Company about "Operational maintenance".
Overview
Jake and Nolan from Green River Distilleries discussed their implementation of Fluke's Xcelerate system. Green River, the 10th oldest distillery in Kentucky, employs around 50 people across 28 acres plus two warehousing sites. They introduced Xcelerate in 2021, initially underutilized, but significantly improved its use in 2023. They highlighted a 50% increase in preventative maintenance, extending asset life, and reducing reactive maintenance. They plan to integrate Ignition software for real-time data and AI for predictive analytics. Contact details for Jake and Nolan are available for those interested in their insights and strategies.
Outline
Introduction and Welcome to Industrial Talk Podcast
Scott welcomes listeners to the Industrial Talk Podcast, emphasizing the importance of innovation, collaboration, and solving today's problems.
The podcast is broadcasted from Xcelerate, sponsored by Fluke, and aims to provide insights on reliability, asset management, and maintenance.
Scott introduces Jacob and Nolan from Green River Distilleries, who will discuss their implementation of Xcelerate.
Background of Green River Distilleries
Jacob shares his background, mentioning his three years as a maintenance manager and his experience in various roles before that.
Nolan has been with Green River for five years, starting as a senior and now serving as the maintenance supervisor.
Green River Distilleries employs around 50 people and operates on a 28-acre main site, with additional warehousing facilities of 60 and 50 acres.
The distillery uses natural water from four wells for cooling and maintaining the quality of their products.
Challenges and Achievements at Green River Distilleries
Jacob explains the history of Green River, which was revived by a group in 2015 and is now the 10th oldest distillery in Kentucky.
Nolan discusses the initial challenges with the Xcelerate system, which was not fully utilized until Jacob's arrival in 2023.
The implementation of Xcelerate has significantly improved preventative maintenance, making it the heartbeat of the maintenance department.
Jacob emphasizes the importance of change management and getting buy-in from the team to effectively utilize the system.
Impact of Xcelerate on Maintenance and Production
Nolan highlights the significant increase in preventative maintenance (PMS) and the daily use of the Xcelerate system.
Jacob shares a success story about extending the life of a bearing from three to five weeks to two years through condition monitoring.
The use of Xcelerate has led to better asset utilization and reduced reactive maintenance, leading to cost savings and improved productivity.
Nolan discusses the implementation of good lubrication strategies, ensuring proper greasing at different speeds and RPMs.
Future Plans and AI Integration
Jacob outlines the next steps, including integrating Ignition software with Xcelerate to provide real-time data and trigger work orders based on failure modes.
The goal is to use AI to analyze data and identify top failure modes, allowing technicians to focus on solving problems efficiently.
The integration of AI will help Green River Distilleries become more proactive and reduce downtime, ultimately improving overall efficiency.
Nolan and Jacob provide their contact information for listeners interested in reaching out for advice or insights on their implementation journey.
Closing Remarks and Contact Information
Scott thanks Nolan and Jacob for their flexibility and insights, emphasizing the importance of their work in the distillation industry.
The podcast is broadcasted from Xcelerate 2026, sponsored by Fluke, and encourages listeners to visit fluke.com for more information.
Scott highlights the success of Green River Distilleries and the importance of sharing their story to inspire others in the industry.
Contact information for Nolan and Jacob is provided, inviting listeners to reach out for further discussions or site visits.
If interested in being on the Industrial Talk show, simply contact us and let's have a quick conversation.
Finally, get your exclusive free access to the Industrial Academy and a series on “Why You Need To Podcast” for Greater Success in 2026. All links designed for keeping you current in this rapidly changing Industrial Market. Learn! Grow! Enjoy!
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Green River Distilleries, asset management, preventative maintenance, condition monitoring, AI integration, SCADA software, reliability, maintenance supervisor, Industrial Talk podcast, Fluke Xcelerate, data analytics, production efficiency, lubrication strategies, failure modes, work orders.
00:35
Scott, welcome to the Industrial Talk podcast with Scott Mackenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting-edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's
00:53
go all right once again. Welcome to Industrial Talk. Thank you very much for your continued
00:57
support of the number one industrial related
00:59
podcast in the universe. I say it all the time because you're bold, brave, you dare greatly, you innovate, you collaborate. You're solving today's problems each and every day, and that's why you're making the world a better place. That's why we celebrate you on Industrial Talk. You are the heroes in this story. All right, we're broadcasting from Xcelerate, brought to you by those wonderful people at Fluke. Go out to Fluke.com and find out more, because you get to meet great people, and you get to listen to all of the incredible insights and sage wisdom that is being delivered from a reliability, asset management and maintenance perspective. In the hot seat, we have two they're with Green River
01:41
distilleries, correct? I got that
01:42
Jacob and Nolan, and we're going to be talking a little bit about how they have implemented Xcelerate into their organization. So let's get cracking. Yeah. And quite honestly, they were walking by, and I just sort of did one of these little finger things, and then I told them to stop, and then I did a thumbs up, and they got it, you're that smart, something like that.
02:07
Yeah, they understood my, my
02:10
lingo, absolutely. You guys having a good conference.
02:13
Oh, it's been great. It's been great.
02:14
It's got to be your first third,
02:17
yeah, and this the first time you guys
02:18
ever spoken, first time.
02:20
Shut up. So a little, little fact here is we started the first Fluke roadshow last year. Kind of got our foot in the door speaking with you also,
02:31
so you just threw that out. What's a Fluke road show? That's where Fluke
02:35
comes to you, Xcelerate comes to you and you, yeah,
02:39
off to the side. It's a she, yeah, yeah.
02:43
So they trained us, and we got to represent Green River and all these other corporations that came.
02:48
So it's a great turnout as well. Was it really, yes, phenomenal for the first one.
02:54
Is it just because it was, it was they did a great job, or is it because you guys produce a great product.
03:01
Well, I think that world's best weeded bourbon really drew them in. There no one, huh?
03:04
Yeah, absolutely. That's definitely a selling point. Truth be told, it's out there. Yeah.
03:10
All right, before we get into the conversation about Green River, all right, Jacob, give us a little background on just who you are, where you come from, and then we'll go to you my
03:21
experience with the distilleries. About three years the maintenance manager there before that. I come from the smelters and done a little bit of everything, planning, supervision, execution, to reliability. And I'm an electrician.
03:32
About your aid so, and I've been with Green River for five years now, been through your senior to him. Yes, yes, senior to him, but not senior to him, yeah, so I'm the age wise. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, he's the maintenance or I'm the maintenance supervisor. There been there for five years, three years as a maintenance supervisor. So seen a lot of change over time.
03:53
How many people are working at Green River? Around 50. Around 50. What is the square footage of your distillery.
04:01
It's 28 acres the main site, no way, yeah. And we have two other additional sites. One's about 60 acres, the other one's around 50. And those are just warehousing facilities.
04:10
Okay, I have to go in because I'm already in business mode, and I will talk about all the emails and what you guys are doing, how who was the one that said, I want to build this distillery use, you know, the sort of idle assets, because we saw the building in your presentation. So you get this idle asset, it was struggling, and just say, Yes, I have this dream. And then then you execute it. How did, how did that come to be? And I'll throw it over to you, Jacob, I don't know. Yeah, so
04:44
as a group that started it in:
05:09
Yep. Okay, that's cool. See, I like this stuff, and I didn't know that. And I just have to ask, why is the water so good coming at you.
05:20
Oh, it's a there's a lot of secrets behind all of that. Scott, so no, it's natural. But we have four, four wells on site that we use for all our cooling and taking care and making sure that our, you know, mash, stays where it needs to be for the process, and making sure we're getting our yield out of it and what we need to see out of it, and keeping that great flavor for the next you know, it's going to go sit in a barrel for four years. So we got to make sure the start of it is, is always great.
05:53
So back to sort of the feedstock. What are we looking at there? Jacob, what's, what's the general feedstock? I'm not going to say, Hey, what's your recipe? I don't want to know the recipe, but the general base, what's
06:05
that feedstock? So we're corn whiskey, corn bourbon, so it's sweet, yeah. So we have four or five different mash bills, and we do whiskeys and bourbons. We do a rye whiskey and 95 rye that's pretty good. And then we did bourbon, which is the world's best. Just that just came out by the New York spirits competition about six months ago.
06:26
So world's best, what does How do you become the world's best? Who said that it is like this, blind, you know, taste test, what?
06:38
Well, Forbes magazine published it. So it's to be true, right?
06:41
Well, of course. Well, you and you'll run with it, right? Yes, why wouldn't you run with that? Yes, all right, so let's go into email.
06:50
So when did you
06:53
first deploy eMaint, and is it x5 x4 got it continue? Yes, sir.
07:01
oduced email to the site, and:
07:49
you deal with the change management at the time? So he come rolling in, they got, you got this x4 out there, and you're saying, Hey, we're not leveraging this solution. How did you sort of approach that change management?
08:03
Scott, it's all about buy in. It's get people bought into it. Yeah, understanding the processes, understanding that why, and once they get why, and they can understand what's going on with their assets, and they can depend on them daily. Done it. Done. It itself.
08:16
So Okay, let's, let's talk a little bit about results. So here we are. You're saying, Hey, we're tired of being reactive. We're tired of replacing bearings 100 feet in the air, by the way, I don't understand what, but why is it 100 feet in the air?
08:35
Construction wise,
08:37
it's got to be to get the length out, to get the grain where it needs to go.
08:40
e utilization of your assets,:
09:19
Look at each other. See who's Yeah, that's
09:20
exactly right. I just blew it.
09:23
So we're where we were before. I wouldn't even say half of our assets were in we had no preventative maintenance in the system to where we are today, where that's the sole heartbeat of our maintenance department now that's looked at every morning. Every asset is in there, or is added as it comes on site. And our, our PMS have jumped. I couldn't give a percentage, but, but greatly, just what we're actually looking at in the in the data driven that we're gaining from actually utilizing this. So it's, it's, it's all we use now. It's, it's huge. Much, and we're seeing great it's got to be
10:02
a comfort. Yes, nobody. And I did a project where everybody was reactive. The stress is through the roof, the money's going out the door, and the executives are saying, How in the heck do we stop this hemorrhaging? Right? Yes, and they're trying to figure out solutions, and they're trying and, and I can only imagine how it is today. But how does, how does the asset itself from a utilization, you're not breaking a bearing every whatever it was three three weeks, yeah,
10:35
three to five weeks, yeah, that's
10:37
yeah, unacceptable, yeah.
10:39
It was bad. Yeah,
10:41
to let's take that asset. Where we at now, you've got devices on it, and I'm gonna go, Jacob. Yeah, I'm sitting looking at Noah, but I said, Oh, it's got to be Jacob. This one's good. So now you have that use that use case. You get that three to five week failure rate. And now you say, Hey, let me put some devices on it, and let's track it. Let's see the vibration, or whatever, the heat, whatever
11:07
you're doing. How are you
11:08
extending the life of that asset? Well, we haven't changed
11:11
the bearing in two years.
11:12
Shut up. See that's value.
11:15
Yeah. So condition monitoring, you know, it is what it is. I talked about data earlier and getting flooded with data. But if you use it in the right aspect, and you trend it, and you look at it, and you put these devices on the right assets, it really increases productivity.
11:28
So Nolan, are you doing some good lube strategies?
11:33
We have things that run over:
11:55
To to you, Jacob,
11:58
where do you see it going? What are where are we at? You're saying, Hey, I'm feeling I don't want to be fat and sassy and take this for granted. Where are you seeing the next sort of opportunity.
12:11
So we just came online with a new project, new SCADA ignition software. So the next step is connecting ignition with email and having ignition draw out meter based PMS, giving us that daily on a frequent or that data on a frequent basis to our technicians can pull off their laptops or their iPads and understand the whole site in a minute, sort of the health of that asset. Yeah. And then then pre triggered work orders from failure modes that are conditioned in the PLC, right? So if we got a current fault on a VFD, we want to be able to trigger that and create a work order immediately and take the operator out of it, because they need to be focused on running the equipment.
12:50
Yeah. How do you see the world of AI helping you with that data analytics? Noel is
13:00
pointing at you. Jacob, sorry about that. One's all him.
13:03
Yeah, pretty critical, right? Like, we're a lean manufacturer, so we have to have the data that technicians fast and rapid, because they don't have time to sit around and figure it out themselves. Yeah, nope, nope. The AI to be able to analyze that data and tell us, hey, what is our top five failure modes of this asset in the last five years? And then we can focus on that. Let ai do the dirty work. Let us continue to fix the problems.
13:24
Yeah, see, and eventually you'll be so proactive, so in tune with your assets, that that, in essence, you're, you're not, you're not fighting fires, you're just, you're just operating the the system. So that's all good. All right. As we wrap up, we need to, we need to know how people get a hold of you. Let's start with you,
13:46
Nolan, so I'm on LinkedIn. Just know. Are you really just Nolan Boswell, yes, sir. Always reach out to our us through email. Nolan dot Boswell at Green River, spirits calm. So either way with let's get to connected. And if you're ever in Owensboro, stop by. I'll give you a tour. I want it. I want it.
14:05
It's not a typical journey, but I would love to go up there. And how about you there?
14:10
I'm on LinkedIn as well. So Jake Reardon, LinkedIn, so you can find me anywhere there, obviously the same email. Jacob dot Reardon at Green River. Spirits calm. So I like it.
14:21
ng once again, from Xcelerate:
14:48
You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.
14:59
It is all. Always a great conversation when we start talking about distillation, and what does that mean from a manufacturing perspective, the production, the yields and all the science that goes behind that. Kudos to Jake and Nolan keeping that asset running that was Xcelerate and and again,
15:23
it's always a great conversation to talk
15:24
about distillation and what they're doing
15:27
and and if you had the opportunity to see their presentation at Xcelerate, you can just their your appreciation would just go through the roof, because where they started and where they're at today.
15:43
It's amazing, and it
15:44
is a testament to them and Team Green River distilling company I got it's right there. I see it on their stat card. So reach out to them. I have all the contact information out on Industrial Talk. You know that? Reach out to them, find out more and not to mention, look into their products. Yeah, yeah. Make that happen. Industrial Talk, once again, is here for you. You need to tell your story. You need to amplify that story. You need to do that because you are a business that needs to succeed and be resilient. You need to attract new talent, and you need to be able to tell your story effectively, so that talent can come to you that's important, and you need to do it all the time. It is a part of your strategic focus. Industrial Talk, as always, is here for you. You an innovator, right there? You disrupter. Yeah, go to Industrial Talk. You are a leader. Go to Industrial Talk. Let's have a conversation. Simply industrial
16:51
talk.com, click Connect.
16:53
You'll be good to go, and we'll have
16:55
a conversation. All right, be bold, be brave. They're greatly I'll tell you, Fluke eMaint, Xcelerate all of them. Put on a great show. You need to put this one on your calendar All right again. Hang out with these two gents, and you will be changing the world. We're gonna have another great conversation shortly. So stay tuned.
