Alcosuisse has two plants, situated in Delémont in the canton of Jura and Schachen in the canton of Luzern. Actual cargo handling takes place here. Since most of the goods deliveries occur by rail, both plants are linked to the rail network, i.e. they have a direct track connected to the Swiss Federal Railways network. 
 
The Alcosuisse plants have storage tanks that contain various ethanol grades. Each plant is equipped with the most modern preparation and bottling facilities, as well as denaturing facilities. The processes run via complex programmable logic controllers (PLC). The storage capacity of the plants is approximately 388,000 hectolitres of pure ethanol. To provide clients with high product quality, Alcosuisse uses several of its own transport containers such as rail tankers for customer deliveries.

The little town of Delémont in the heart of the canton of Jura, situated between Basel and Biel and only a stone's throw away from France and Germany, is home to one of two Alcosuisse plants. Thanks to its favourable location in the industrial zone of the capital city of the Jura, our plant has excellent road and rail links. The extensive movement of goods gives our plant an important place in the in the industrial landscape of Delémont.
 
A look back at its history shows that the Swiss Alcohol Board settled in Delémont in 1929. At that time, its site was situated on the rue de la Régie, a few yards away from the station. In 1955, it moved to its present location at 58 rue de la Communance to allow for further development. After parliament had adopted the dispatch of the Federal Council on the complete renewal of the plant, major renovations were carried out from 1987 to 1990, in particular in the area of technical equipment: vats, piping and pumps are today all made from stainless steel, and the production processes are controlled by pre-programmed computers. In the area of security measures, fire-fighting and environmental protection, all current installations, without exception, comply with the rules and regulations to which a plant of this nature is subject. Investments are regularly made so as to continually improve the manufacturing processes. The current plant is situated on a site of approximately 102,000 m2 and has 48 tank installations with a total capacity of 230,000 hectolitres of pure ethanol.
 
Nine employees suffice to achieve complete client satisfaction. They deal not only with the importation, storage and marketing of ethanol, but also with most of the ongoing maintenance work, which is controlled by a GMAO system. Thanks to the most modern computer-controlled installations, our numerous customers can rest assured that we will cater to their needs in terms of both quality and quantity, and also concerning the sometimes very tight deadlines.
 
The plant in Delémont also has an exhibition of many old distillery apparatus, which were bought from former distillers of home-made products after they had stopped working. The museum often receives enquiries from groups, societies or companies wanting to come and visit.

The Schachen plant lies in the valley of the "kleinen Emme" between Wolhusen and Malters in the district of Schachen, in the commune of Werthenstein. This suburb of Luzern is easily accessible by rail and by car. In 1941, due to the geological conditions in the Emmenberg, the two tunnels were built – in all 24 tanks with a storage capacity of 48,000 hectolitres – as well as the filling hangar with a storage area next to the Schachen train station. In 1973, the plant was expanded with the external tank storage facility, with a total of 14 tanks and a storage volume of 110,000 hectolitres. Between 1996 and 2004, considerable investment was made in controls, the filling equipment and safety installations in order to meet the requirements of various bodies.
 
Thanks to modern installations and facilities, we are today able to supply our customers throughout Switzerland with ethanol in next to no time with various containers. Nine employees store, restore and transfer large amounts of ethanol daily. The different grades of ethanol are stored and transferred separately in various pipeline and tank systems in order to meet the demanding customer requirements. By splitting up the two plants in two different locations, logistic, strategic and time-related bottlenecks can always be dealt with.