A CASE STUDY: PROCESS CONTROL
As consumer demand for frozen sweet-potato fries took off, a food manufacturer wanted to build a new plant in the southern United States to expand its production capacity.
Completed in 2010, with Concept Systems as lead integrator, this showcase plant – LEED Platinum certified – is internationally renowned for its environmentally friendly design and construction, as well as operational efficiency that set a new bar for the industry. It is a premier example of process control.
PROJECT DETAILS
ROI: 24 months
Project duration: 24 months
Team
Client: 6 to 12 engineers
Concept Systems: 6 to 15 engineers
Concept Systems’ time on site: 90 days
The problem
The food manufacturer wanted to expand production capacity with a new forward-looking frozen french fry plant that was fully integrated from the receiving area up to the frozen grading area. Mother Nature added a degree of complexity, as sweet potatoes are not at all uniform in size and shape.
The solution
We served as lead integrator, developing an integrated control system for all plant processing line equipment, as well as support and utility areas. We coordinated all process control development, and also managed timelines, status reporting, meeting needs, costs, documents and other aspects of the project.
The results
The plant achieved LEED Platinum certification, the first frozen food processing plant in the world to do so. It won Food Processing magazine’s 2011 Green Plant of the Year Award. And most gratifying for us, the customer called on us again later to serve as the lead integrator for the expansion of its processing plant in the Northwest.
