Facility Expansion for RTE Gourmet Deli Meat

When Ron Ramstad purchased property to expand his Philadelphia facility that produces organic and natural deli products, he interviewed a variety of A/E firms before choosing Food Plant Engineering LLC. Specifically, Ramstad asked to develop master plans and layout improvements for his inner-city operation.

Forward Thinking

He implemented much of the plan, finally deciding to expand the facility to the adjacent property. However, Ramstad opted not to enlist Food Plant Engineering’s help for on-site management of the project. Instead, he kept the firm on as a business representative and consultant. Site complexities and difficulties with a contractor Ramstad hired on his own made the process challenging.

“We didn’t think we needed that,” Ramstad says, and he admits that the decision was difficult. Working with knowledgeable experts is a must in the food plant industry. For Ramstad, finding the professionals suited for his specific problems while he ran his own business became the prerogative.

“People like us: we don’t do this every day,” Ramstad says. “So you need people who know what they’re doing.”

Trusted Consultant

FPE understands that a business owner has a lot on their plate when it comes to managing their own daily operations. Alongside A/E design services and construction oversite, FPE can help owners via consultation on a variety of different contractor needs.

Despite the challenges Ramstad faced, the expansion project finished on time and on budget. Those involved in the day-to-day operations of the facility “love it,” says Ramstad. “It’s changed the whole appearance of the company. Overall, it changes from being a shack in the corner to a beautiful building.”

Why Food Plant Engineering?

“Anyone can design, but keeping people accountable, that’s where you’re really good,” Ramstad says of the FPE team. Food Plant Engineering’s professionals are “fair, professional and accessible,” he says. “You can adapt quick. You respond quick. That’s your strength.”

Would he recommend Food Plant Engineering? “Oh, I do!” Ramstad says. “All the time.”

Overcoming design challenges following a legacy plant fire

Rebuilding a facility after a fire presents unique challenges. Overnight, the company was presented with the task of upgrading the processing operation to meet current food safety and operation expectations. The fire rendered 60 percent of the facility unsalvageable, while the remaining 40 percent — encompassing offices, raw material storage, and finished goods storage — were damaged but repairable. Thus, a plan had to be devised to utilize the remaining 40 percent while replacing the destroyed portion. 

In addition, the company had the opportunity to upgrade their processing equipment. This presented a chance to increase production and productivity. However, with every opportunity to change and improve processing methods comes the risk of changing product organoleptic characteristics, so great care was taken in working with Family Brands to select equipment that maintained the characteristics of the product that loyal and long-term customers expect. 

Food Safety and Flexibility in Production

Family Brands is a custom producer and thus needed the ability to make a variety of products and produce them in flexible quantities. Working in conjunction with everyone from upper management to the plant floor supervisors, various layout options were developed that allowed for both flexibility and food safety. This collaborative effort helped Family Brands implement new processing and production methods and eased the concern for how they could adapt to these methods. 

In addition to flexibility, a food safe product flow had to fit between the raw material storage and finished good storage structures that were not severely damaged by the fire. Our firm was able solve this issue and create a linear product flow that did not cross between raw and RTE. This flow also incorporated a rack washroom that allows for separation of dirty and clean racks, as well as an employee path that separates the raw from RTE workforce.  

Raw Processing

A layout for the raw processing of meat that allowed for equipment to be utilized between processing lines was developed. This new layout also vastly improved upon the processing capacity of the previous operation. The layout for new grinders, mixers, blenders, formers, stuffers, and linkers allowed for seamless flow from one operation to the next, as well as between process lines. 

Packaging

A variety of packaging machine styles were implemented in the design. These include manually and autoloaded horizontal thermoformer lines and bulk-pack food service lines. Some of these lines are fed by peeling and slicing lines as well. Additionally, a unique method for applying antimicrobial solutions to some of the products was devised by FPE and implemented to improve food safety and extend shelf life. 

Thermal Processing

Our firm worked with Family Brands to select new flow-through batch ovens with VFD fans to vary the volume and change the break point inside the oven. These ovens are flexible in many ways: they can utilize both natural and liquid smoke for flavoring, switch from natural gas to propane as a fuel source, and have a flat floor system that does not require a depressed pit that collects dirt and grease. Overall, these ovens increased Family Brands’ cook capacity significantly compared with the previous ovens. 

The product is moved from the ovens directly to high-intensive chillers. These chillers also utilize VFD controlled fans to rapidly chill the product, which improved food safety and drastically improved throughput.

Facility Development

Space allocation was crucial in this project, as the given space needed to accommodate not only the production and packaging operations but offices, break rooms, locker rooms, restrooms, electrical and water supply rooms, rack washrooms, and space for future production growth. This challenge was solved by optimizing space allocation of each room individually, and then modifying the allocation to fit within the confines of the overall floor and equipment plant. This back and forth, push and pull of functions and areas led to an optimization of each function and the entire layout.

Permitting

Rebuilding a plant that dated back at least 50 years brought the challenge of determining what must be upgraded to meet current building code and what could remain untouched. Working with local code authorities, we were able to develop a sensible plan to safely and cost-effectively upgrade the facility without sacrificing important upgrades for life safety and ADA feature.

Project Overview

To meet increasing demand, this ready-to-eat protein division of a large international company selected FPE to design and construct an expansion at one of their facilities. The project was phased to keep the plant in operation during the construction. The project involved adding two high-volume, automated processing lines that required a 25,000 sf renovation and expansion of this 95,000 sf operating facility.

Additional circulation space and shipping docks were added as part of the upgrades. Two new automated grinding, forming, cooking, freezing, and packaging lines were also added to the facility. Major infrastructure upgrades included capacity and distribution additions for ammonia refrigeration, natural gas, steam and condensate, water heating, compressed air, and electric systems.

All project planning, design, permitting and construction for the project were implemented by FPE.

Project Overview

After a fire destroyed production capacity at one of their cooked meat facilities, a division of a large North American company turned to FPE for help regaining the lost production. The feasibility of rebuilding the fire-damaged facility and additional options were examined. As a result, the decision was made to implement a major upgrade to this legacy manufacturing facility.

A phased plan was developed to install two new cook lines in the building. The first phase involved installing a high-capacity cook line by carving out 15,000 sf inside of the facility for the automated meat grinding, forming, cooking, freezing, and packaging line. The project required significant infrastructure upgrades to support the two additional cooking lines. A new ammonia refrigeration system, steam boiler, water heater, natural gas service and distribution, electric service and distribution, oven exhaust system and treatment, and wastewater treatment were added alongside upgrades to existing infrastructure systems.

All project planning, design, permitting and construction for the project were implemented by FPE.

Liquid Egg Processing Planning and Design

Facing an increasing demand for liquid egg products, the company decided the fastest way to bring a new plant online was to convert an older grading facility into one that could produce liquid eggs. An existing egg-grading facility was located and evaluated by our firm for conversion. Although the facility needed major upgrades for conversion, such concerns did not deter Perham Egg from retrofitting the space, partly due to the large on-site storage and access to a shell egg supplier.

The plan was devised to create an efficient layout and design for the manual tasks involved in egg processing. Such tasks included receiving and placing shell eggs into cold storage, moving to warming rooms to heat the eggs prior to breaking, and placing the egg flats for automatic unloading. Machines were selected and placed into the layout for the automated washing, candling, breaking, and separation (yokes from whites). Pumps, heat exchangers, and storage tanks were then integrated into the layout for the pumping, chilling, and storage of the liquid yoke and egg whites.

Food Processing Environment

A hygienic, washable environment was created to accommodate the breaking and storage of liquid eggs. The walls, floors, and ceilings were built using impervious material that can withstand high-pressure wash hoses. In addition, the air handling system was designed for high levels of filtration. The filtration level is MERV 17 (99.97% @ 0.3 microns), and the room temperature is designed at 75°F. One hundred percent of the air in this system is outside air. These areas are maintained under positive air pressure to prevent air infiltration from other spaces.

Waste Handling: Solid and Liquid

The removal and treatment of both solid and liquid waste was a primary concern for the renovation of this facility. The process of breaking eggs to extract the liquid contents creates large amounts of inedible by-products, including shells and waste liquid egg. The plant was designed by FPE to handle this waste in two ways:

• Inedible product captured in the process—by workers or by the automated processing equipment—is moved via a screw conveyor to a shell separator, which separates the shells from the liquid inedible product. Shells are then conveyed to a solids trailer that is removed from the site on a weekly basis. The liquid inedible product is pumped to a by-product holding tank, which is then pumped as needed to an inedible product handling truck for off-site disposal.
   
• Inedible product captured by the building floor drain system during sanitation is pumped to a rotary drum screen to separate the solid waste. The solid waste is conveyed to a solids trailer that is removed from the site regularly. 

A new pre-treatment system was needed to handle the amount of liquid waste generated by the plant. The challenge was to create a system that would work with the existing location of the plant sewer discharge while collecting liquid waste on the opposite side of the plant. The solution was to pump the liquid waste to an equalization tank located closest to most of the generated waste. The equalization tank also serves to control and maintain the pH. Equalized liquid waste is then pumped through flocculent tubes and into a dissolved air filtration (DAF) for treatment located on the other side of the plant. Clean wastewater is tested and balanced for pH and sent to the city sewer system. The remaining by-products from the DAF system are pumped to the by-product holding tank, which is then pumped as needed to an inedible product handling truck for off-site disposal.

Food Raw Material Receiving and Storage

The Amherst facility assembles fresh and frozen sandwiches, burritos, and wraps for wholesale and retail sale. In 2019, Tyson needed help renovating this facility while maintaining operations. Tyson came to Food Plant Engineering asking for help with plans to add eight new packaging lines, reallocate dry ingredients space for conversion to an ingredient unboxing room, increase the size of the gowning room, relocate the trash dock, relocate vacuum pumps for the packaging lines, and modify a finished goods freezer to increase ingredient storage. The engineering staff at Tyson developed the initial concepts for this expansion but needed assistance in working out details and implementing plans.

To prepare for renovation, Tyson needed immediate assistance in evaluating storage options for packaging materials and dry ingredients. Food Plant Engineering worked with Tyson to develop a racking plan that would maximize floor space for ingredient tempering while still having enough racked pallet spaces for corrugate and labels. Once the space was cleared, the unboxing and gowning rooms were constructed. During this process, temporary walls were utilized to uphold food safety standards in the production spaces. Short shutdowns were planned to install the production and packaging lines and relocate supporting production equipment.

Packaging, Cold Storage, and Shipping

As a result of the increased production, part of the freezer was modified to accommodate more ingredient storage. This modification involved altering the pallet racking and constructing a wall to separate ingredients from finished goods. This change in material flow also required a change in the location of the trash dock. When evaluating the plan for the trash dock relocation, it was important to ensure corrugate waste would not pass through an area with exposed product. In addition, the exterior space for the dock needs to be in a location where the waste-hauling trucks can access the trash dock without interfering with the semi-truck traffic at the shipping docks. Food Plant Engineering devised a plan that both optimizes placement of the trash dock without interfering with shipping traffic and allows for plans for a future freezer and dock addition.