The Original Cakerie

Overview

When the largest privately owned dessert manufacturer in Canada reached capacity in its Delta, British Columbia plant, it looked east to Ontario, at the heart of the North American market.

Project Highlights

To facilitate the shipping of frozen decorated cakes, this 130,000 SF facility had a Variable Retention Time (VRT) freezer, the largest of its kind at the time, with 1000’ of conveyer in eight different cells at -10˚F.

Thanks to close coordination, the project was completed in 11 months from groundbreaking to saleable product, despite a winter with unusually high snow falls.

It received a gold rating from the American Institute of Baking (AIB) due to sanitary design practices that exceeded AIB and GMP standards, and production rates were higher than expected immediately upon start-up.

Rare Breed Distilling

RARE BREED DISTILLING

Overview

After Campari Group purchased Wild Turkey the decided to invest $100 MM in the Lawrenceburg, KY facility in order to bring all bottling and packaging in-house once again.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group was responsible for the design and construction of a grassroots bottling plant for Wild Turkey at its distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. The facility was designed to produce Skyy vodka, flavored vodkas, Wild Turkey bourbon, American Honey and various specialty bourbons and featured three high-speed bottling lines with room for a future fourth line.

The building was constructed on a very hilly site with an excess of 25 feet elevation difference in the original topography resulting in a massive cut and fill operation; a considerable amount of blasting was needed to remove ledge.

The project features an outdoor tank farm for incoming spirits, capable of holding up to 300,000 gallons of product, a 15,000 SF blending room with 400,000 gallons of blending and bottling tanks and a 40,000 SF bottling hall.

The upstairs office core was designed with a viewing mezzanine to allow Wild Turkey to conduct visitor tours of their operation and the facility has become an important stop on Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail.

Taylor Farms

TAYLOR FARMS

Overview

Taylor Farm purchased a former jams and jellies plant, which in turn had to be converted into a high-grade USDA retail processing facility.

Project Highlights

The project included complete demolition of an existing facility with the exception of three exterior building walls, as well as construction of a state-of-the-art refrigerated facility for the production of prepared salads and cut vegetables.

This design-build project was completed on a fast-track schedule in less than 9 months in spite of challenging existing site conditions which included several adjacent properties that were located in close proximity.

Kellogg’s

KELLOGG’S

Overview

Kellogg’s Ontario facility that produced the Mini-Wheats branded cereal made a $43 MM investment to add a new cereal production line that made use of advanced food manufacturing technologies.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group provided complete site, facility, and process design for this expansion project at the Belleville, Ontario, Canada facility. The project included the renovation of approximately 76,000 SF of existing building shell (fit up of slabs, UG plumbing, walls, etc) to facilitate the installation of a new 30MM pound/year DX cereal line.

Major accomplishments include going from KAR approval to saleable product in 11 months, all while working in an existing operating facility.

The project also required the removal and replacement of a 5,000 SF section of the existing buildings roof and replacement with a 100psf blast resistant roof to house the new mix room.

Imperial Sugar

IMPERIAL SUGAR

Overview

Dennis Group was brought in shortly after a catastrophic series of explosions destroyed much of Imperial Sugar’s refinery & packaging facilities. Following investigations conducted by OSHA and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), Dennis Group was released to begin management of site/facility demolition while simultaneously planning for the design-build reconstruction of the site and facilities with “world class” vision.

Project Highlights

11 months following project release and commencement of construction, key operations for Imperial Sugar were back on line.

Scope included 185,000 SF of new building construction plus 40,000 SF of damaged facility renovations and new production and packaging equipment.

300 tons/hour of sugar was distributed via dense phase systems (with dilute phase systems for powder & starch conveyance), three large storage silos constructed & fit up, truck and rail load out reconstructed with updated technologies, and eleven high volume packaging lines (granulated, brown and powder) all with the most current NFPA, OSHA and CSB recommendations, guidelines & requirements. Extensive wet and dry dust collection systems were incorporated into the design.

Maintaining schedule and cost while incorporating design innovations and working around existing site constraints were major challenges overcome during this fast-track project. Once key elements of production were on line construction of facilities and installation of process equipment were performed without interruption to ongoing operations. This required close coordination with plant personnel, 24 hour per day construction activities and managing over 600 contractors per day during peak installation & commissioning periods.

Ocean Spray

OCEAN SPRAY

Overview

When global demand for Ocean Spray dried cranberries doubled within three years and was projected to double once again, the company made its largest capital investment in a manufacturing facility to date with a 130,000 SF expansion that doubled the plant’s size to 440,000 SF. The plant produces both sweetened dried cranberries and cranberry juice concentrates.

Project Highlights

The facility incorporated some of the latest technologies in energy and environmental efficiency, including a wastewater treatment facility, energy-efficient lighting, and an expansion of a system that converts methane from the Veolia Cranberry Creek Landfill into clean energy to power the plant.

A new fully-racked warehouse for both ingredients and finished goods increased storage capacity. The expansion enabled the plant to produce more than 30 million pounds of sweetened dried cranberries per year.

Major accomplishments of the project included design and implementation of 5S standards in creating state-of-the-art maintenance shop and quality control lab spaces.

La Brea Bakery

LA BREA BAKERY

Overview

La Brea Bakery had overextended the production capacity of their west coast facility and was on a fast track program to expand sales in the eastern United States.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group was engaged as a partner to assist La Brea in their efforts to increase the production capacity by constructing a new facility on the east coast. Complete interior fit-up, MEP and construction management design-build services were provided for a new bakery facility.

The Swedesboro facility houses the largest automated artisan bread production line in the world. The project involved the fast-track fit-up of a 190,000 square foot facility including a 20,000 square foot storage freezer and 7,500 square feet of office space.

Major accomplishments of the project included complete design with smooth integration of production systems supplied by equipment manufacturers located in four countries. The facility has been designed and constructed to allow for easy capacity expansion in the future.

Ahold

AHOLD

LEED New Construction v3 Certified

Overview

Project involved the development of a greenfield regional meat processing and packaging facility for Ahold USA/Vantage Foods. Ahold is the parent company of Stop and Shop and Giant supermarket stores and the new facility provides fresh, case ready, meat products to these store chains through New England, Pennsylvania, and Northern Maryland.

Project Highlights

Dennis Group provided LEED administrative services for the project which included project credit submission, tracking, start up and commissioning, and final submission to the United States Green Building Council. Upon completion of this effort, the facility received LEED Certified status.

Specific technical features of the project procured, managed, and constructed by The Dennis Group include a 24,000 lbs ammonia refrigeration system with 5 compressors, approximately 65,000 SF of refrigerated meat processing space, a multi-bay receiving and shipping dock, complete ESFR sprinkler system with a fire pump, and diesel back up generator.

The facility also boasts a complete onsite waste water treatment facility with two lift stations.

Site work development included grading, storm water management, parking, and secured access, and a two story employee service area, with locker rooms, cafeteria, and office space.

The project is currently producing in excess of 1 million pounds of packaged meat weekly. In addition, the project team was able to pass a rigorous USDA inspection of the facility on the first attempt, which speaks to the quality of construction and attention to sanitary detail.

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