Case study · General Softdrinks Limited
From production records to operational data.
An ongoing transformation with General Softdrinks Limited: digitising production and logistics records, as part of a wider programme to take information beyond the document and into operational use.
Ongoing
- Client
- General Softdrinks Limited (GSD), Malta
- Sector
- Food and beverage manufacturing
- Scale
- 500,000 documents
- Project
- Began January 2026 · ongoing
The situation
An integrated operation, from bottling to sales.
General Softdrinks Limited is the authorised producer and distributor of Coca-Cola products in Malta. It runs a fully integrated manufacturing and distribution operation: bottling, packaging, warehousing, logistics and sales.
The company has made significant strides in production efficiency and quality. Its evolving business landscape now calls for further advances in digitisation, automation and the use of real-time data.
The problem
Information that needs to do more.
The programme is driven by clear strategic needs:
Efficiency and transparency
Strengthen operational efficiency and transparency.
Integrity and traceability
Ensure data integrity and traceability across all units.
Better decisions
Enhance decision-making through real-time data visualisation.
Less manual work
Minimise manual intervention in the flow of information.
The scale
Where it starts.
- documents
- 500,000
- project start
- January 2026
- project status
- Ongoing
What we were asked to do
Digitise the records — and make the data usable.
GSD began a modernisation programme to digitise its production and logistics documents and upload them to its document management system. The metadata will be used for reference — but primarily to retrieve statistical information.
The wider objective is to design and implement an integrated Digital Process Automation platform: end-to-end data flow, minimised manual intervention and advanced analytics for operational excellence.
The digitisation
A defined process for the records.
The documented process for the digitisation work:
Inventory and transport
A document inventory, then secure transport — onsite scanning is not possible.
Preparation
Documents up to A3 are prepared for capture.
Scanning and OCR
Capture, with optical character recognition.
Metadata indexing
Indexing the metadata that statistical retrieval depends on.
Quality assurance
Validation, with discrepancies corrected before upload.
Transfer and sign-off
Secure transfer and system integration by SFTP, then client validation and sign-off.
Ongoing
Where the transformation is going.
This is the documented project scope — the direction of the programme, not a list of completed deliverables.
Data at source
Digital forms
Manual input sheets replaced by digital forms on tablets or terminals.
Machine data
Real-time IoT data from bottling and packaging machinery, with automated alerts for stoppages and deviations.
Records
Operational records
Maintenance logs, quality audits, delivery manifests and HR records digitised.
Document management
A document management system with traceability and role-based permissions.
Visibility
Live dashboards
Key performance indicators such as downtime, efficiency and yield.
Insight for management
Actionable insights across production and logistics.
Connection
ERP synchronisation
Process data synchronised with existing ERP systems.
API connectivity
API-based connectivity between departments, for consistent data.
The transformation
From manual records to operational visibility.
Manual
- Paper and input sheets
- Production and logistics records.
Digital
- Digital information
- Scanned, read and indexed.
Structured
- Structured data
- Metadata for reference and statistics.
Connected
- Connected systems
- DMS, ERP and APIs between departments.
Visible
- Operational visibility
- Dashboards and insight across production and logistics.
An ongoing transformation. The stages beyond digitisation describe the documented direction of the programme — not completed results.
Status
An ongoing transformation.
The project began in January 2026 and is ongoing. It is designed to unify data across production, quality and logistics — so that, as the project documentation puts it, the company can move from reactive to predictive operations. That is the intended direction; no outcomes are claimed here while the work continues.
Project proof
What is documented so far.
Status
Ongoing since January 2026
Scope
500,000 production and logistics documents, up to A3
Delivery
Secure transport to Archives International — onsite scanning is not possible
Process
Scanning, OCR, metadata indexing, quality assurance, secure SFTP transfer, client validation
Security
Role-based access control, encryption in transit and at rest, and maintained audit logs.
Team
Project manager, scanning team and German engineers
Beyond the scan
The information doesn’t stop at the document.
For GSD, the scan is the first step. The metadata is there primarily to retrieve statistical information — and the documented programme goes further: capturing data at source with digital forms and machine data, connecting it to the ERP and between departments, and turning it into live operational visibility.
It shows where information transformation leads: from physical and manual records to structured, connected operational systems.
What could your information become?
Start with a specification or with a problem. Either way, the conversation starts with your information.