According to Scotch whisky trade reports, 2013 was a mixed year for the Scotch whisky market. The Chinese clampdown on luxury gifts and conspicuous consumption۝ has caused a slowdown in Scotch sales growth in China. Spain۪s economy problems hit consumer spending on spirits while the French rise in duty meant wholesalers stocked up in 2012: both contributed to the shrinking sales in Southern Europe in 2013.

However, this falling demand has been offset by healthy growth in emerging markets from South East Asia through to Latin America and the Middle East.
With genuine Scotch Whisky being protected with Geographical Indication (GI) registration, meaning that the product is identified as originating in Scotland by passing a series of authenticity controls at every stage, it is a sought after commodity world-wide. The industry is still confident of continued growth in 2014.

This confidence is being reflected in the demand for Guttridge conveying equipment, particularly en-masse eleveyors, by Scottish distilleries. En-masse eleveyors are the perfect choice for elevating malted barley and grist at various stages in the production process of Scotch whisky. The steel hoop flights fitted to the base chain move the malted barley or grist en-masse۝, as a single column, thereby minimising movement within the product and vastly reducing the resulting degradation of the material, even when subject to changes of direction and degree of elevation. The machines are extremely versatile with a relatively narrow casing cross section, being capable of efficiently moving material horizontally and vertically as required to suit plant layouts, even where material feed and factory layout restrictions apply. They can be slotted into many parts of the process stream, including:

ۢ conveying malted barley directly from the delivery vehicle into storage silos
ۢ elevating product into cleaning or de-stoning equipment
ۢ moving material from the cleaning units to the grist mill
ۢ transferring the resulting grist from the mill to the grist case and on to the mash tun

The Guttridge en-masse eleveyor is very competitively priced compared to alternative brands and is built to last with a lower lifetime cost. The all-steel (mild steel, galvanised or stainless steel) split box construction with precise laser cut flanges ensures accurate dust tight joints. Cleaning flights, high strength chain, heavy duty construction, choke protection switches and under-speed sensors (subject to customer requirements) all help to ensure reliable operation and keep ongoing costs to a minimum. The en-masse eleveyor is environmentally sound, being completely enclosed, thereby keeping all moving parts safely encased within the body of the machine and eliminating dust contamination.

Another advantage of the this type of elevator compared with the more common belt and bucket type is that the issue of dust explosion is avoided as the en masse eleveyor runs full of product travelling at slow speed. Consequently, the dust filled enclosed chamber commonly occurring in a belt and bucket elevator is not present in the Guttridge en masse eleveyor

Guttridge en-masse eleveyors come in a range of standard sizes from 3۝ to 19۝ handling throughputs up to 300m/hr depending on product characteristics. It is estimated that around 90% of Guttridge en-masse eleveyors built are destined for use within the distilling/brewing industry and, with the recent steadily increasing world-wide demand for genuine Scotch whisky, we have seen sales almost double from 2012 through 2013. Already in 2014 we have taken orders for almost half again of the total sales of 2013 reflecting the current demand for this renowned and distinguished and inherently Scottish beverage.