The Original Cakerie

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.

 

Campbell Soup

CAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY

Overview

  • StockPot, a subsidiary of Campbell Soup Company, produced fresh-refrigerated soups, entrées, sauces, chilies, gravies, and side dishes. All products emphasized freshness and quality, using fresh-cut vegetables, genuine dairy products, fresh herbs and spices, and premium meats and seafood.

Project Highlights

  • Dennis Group provided complete design-build services for StockPot’s new greenfield facility project in Woodinville, WA, but their business had tripled in a short time, so Dennis Group was once again engaged when they required a second new facility on an 18-acre site.
  • The new soup manufacturing facility doubled the size of their production capacity, as well as implemented an expanded state-of-the-art clean-in-place (CIP) system to accommodate the made-to-order soup runs while improving production efficiency of StockPot’s unique cook, chill and packaging systems.

 

 

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.

 

 

Pepperidge Farms

PEPPERIDGE FARMS

LEED New Construction v3 Certified

Overview

  • Dennis Group assisted in the design of the 34,000 SF Pepperidge Farms Innovation Center located at their headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. The new facility houses state-of-the-art labs, a pilot plant with product development and testing lines, a culinary kitchen, and meeting rooms dedicated to developing new products.

Project Highlights

  • Certified by the United States Green Building Council under the LEED New Construction v3 Rating System, the Innovation Center was designed as a high performance green building. The facility reduces environmental impact, creates a healthy environment for building occupants, and decreases long term operating costs.
  • Daylight and occupancy sensors are utilized to reduce energy consumption from artificial lighting. A high efficiency HVAC system relying on refrigerant flow for space conditioning, rather than airflow, and a VFD air compressor provide further energy savings. Overall, the building has 16% lower energy costs than facilities of similar size and purpose.
  • Through the use of low flush and flow fixtures, the Innovation Center consumes 30% less water than a typical facility. The project also increased occupant health and comfort by providing ventilation through a dedicated outdoor air energy recovery ventilator.
  • To further reduce environmental impact, strategies to reduce fossil fuel consumption were utilized. The project owner located the facility in an urban environment with public transportation access to reduce the energy impact of employee transportation to and from work. The facility also sourced 30% of construction materials from within 500 miles of site to reduce the impact of transporting the materials to site.

 

Heinz

HEINZ

Overview

  • HJ Heinz European Frozen and Chilled Foods invested $9 MM to establish a strategic headquarters in Dublin and expand its frozen ready-meals production facility.

Project Highlights

  • Dennis Group provided facility and process design-build services for the expansion of an Heinz’s existing facility located in Dundalk, Ireland. The facility design included renovation of 5,000 m2 of internal production space and the construction of 3,000 m2 of new food manufacturing and utility areas.
  • This project involved the installation of two high-speed fully automated frozen-ready meal production lines.
  • A state of the art sauce manufacturing system utilizing vacuum cooling and a flexible batch management and control system supported the production lines.
  • Additional process equipment included pasta blanching, high shear slurry blending, and potato and fish handling.
  • Installation of completely new utility systems and a wastewater treatment plant was also incorporated into the project.