Heaven Hill Distillery modernizes plant control with PlantPAx 5.1

Heaven Hill Distillery began construction of a new greenfield production site with a clear objective: create a fully digital, data-intensive operation capable of mirroring physical processes with reliable digital insight.

The facility covers the full production chain, including grain receiving, mashing, fermentation, byproducts and finished goods handling. Management required deep operational visibility and a cohesive visualization layer to support long-term digital transformation and future AI-driven analytics.

However, the company’s existing Louisville site relied on an older generation of the PlantPAx platform, limiting scalability and advanced data capabilities. In parallel, Heaven Hill prioritized cybersecurity and requested an architecture that would allow deployment of Dragos monitoring tools to gain visibility into hardware status and network behavior.

Modernizing visualization and control architecture
To deliver the new digital foundation, Heaven Hill partnered with Opus Integration, a long-standing automation partner with expertise in plant modernization. Working closely with Rockwell Automation, Opus deployed PlantPAx 5.1 across the greenfield site.

The updated distributed control system provides a unified plant-wide visualization layer, enabling operators to monitor equipment status, interlocks and system conditions from any terminal within the distillery. Modern interlock objects allow operators to immediately identify why equipment is not running, eliminating the need for time-consuming code reviews or repeated maintenance calls.

Opus also configured the network architecture to integrate Dragos cybersecurity monitoring, strengthening the facility’s ability to detect abnormal network behavior and gain visibility into connected industrial assets.

Reducing troubleshooting time and improving decision-making
Following implementation, troubleshooting time decreased significantly. Operators can now see in real time which interlock conditions are blocking production, accelerating issue resolution and reducing production interruptions.

The centralized system also enables historical data analysis. Production runs can be compared, trends evaluated and anomalies detected using structured operational data collected by PlantPAx. This capability supports continuous improvement initiatives and more informed operational decisions.

Preparing for AI-driven manufacturing
Beyond immediate operational gains, the new control infrastructure establishes a data foundation for advanced analytics and AI applications. Heaven Hill is developing roles focused on cognitive AI to interpret operational data harvested from the control system, signaling a strategic move toward predictive and AI-driven manufacturing insights.

For a distillery with more than a century of heritage, the modernization represents a significant step toward digital transformation. By combining updated process control, integrated cybersecurity architecture and scalable data infrastructure, the project positions the new facility for long-term resilience, efficiency and innovation in food and beverage manufacturing.