Views: 1988

Are Your Doors Wasting Your Food Plant’s Energy?

Did you know a single weak link in your building envelope can have a major impact on your food plant’s energy efficiency? Take your facility’s doors and door openings. In an otherwise well-insulated and well-designed facility, an improperly designed door opening can erase a big portion of energy and utility savings. Your entire building envelope, from the windows to the walls, must be tightly sealed to achieve the utmost energy efficiency—including the doors.

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Views: 1959

When to Conduct a Feasibility Study For Major Plant Decisions

In this day and age of fierce competition and tighter budgets, food manufacturers are often faced with making critical—and expensive—business decisions as part of their strategic plan. Should you refurbish existing equipment or buy new equipment to meet your manufacturing needs? Should you add product lines to increase market share and what impact would that have on current operations?

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Views: 1952

3 Food Processing Trends from Pack Expo 2017 (and Beyond)

Source: Flexible Packaging magazine

 

I had the opportunity to attend Pack Expo 2017 in Las Vegas this fall with a team from Stellar. We met leaders from various segments of the F&B industry and enjoyed showing off our virtual design construction (VDC) technology.

These shows are always a great opportunity to network with food industry leaders and to see the very latest technologies and trends. This year was no exception. These were my big takeaways:

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Views: 1944

Building a Food Plant on a Short Schedule: 4 Ways to Fast-track Your Construction Project

In today’s increasingly fast-paced food and beverage industry, everyone wants their next facility built as soon as possible so it can start shipping product quickly. While hiring an experienced firm to design and build (or renovate) your plant is critical, there are things owners can do to ensure a project moves as efficiently as possible.

Success story: US Cold Storage

Stellar recently designed and built a food distribution facility for US Cold Storage in Laredo, Texas. The project had an aggressive schedule, and as the senior project manager, my job was to ensure we met those deadlines.

Despite a month of unexpected weather delays, we worked creatively and brought in additional crews that worked ten-hour days and six- to seven-day weeks. This allowed us to complete the project in only eight months, just in time to harvest Mexican strawberries.

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Views: 1934

How to Ensure Quality Control in Food Processing Facilities in China

We have very tight quality control standards in the U.S. and chances are, you’ll want to employ those same standards in your facility overseas. China has different, often non-existent, standards so managing quality control is solely up to your team. Ensure that you have a team of individuals who oversee everything from your engineering documents to intellectual property to equipment selection and installation. Here are my top four areas that must be managed closely to ensure quality control.

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Views: 1928

Your Guide to Financing and Staffing a Food Processing Plant in China

Expanding your food processing business into China requires much more than a capital investment—it requires a significant investment in upfront planning and research. Expats who are currently operating a business in the country can be your greatest source of information, both in navigating China’s financial industry and in identifying trusted sources. Here are a few key things you need to know about banking, taxes and staffing before expanding your food processing operations in China.

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Views: 1925

Procore: 4 Ways the Construction Management Software is Benefitting Our Clients

In today’s fast-paced market, companies are setting more aggressive deadlines for their construction projects and are prioritizing speed to market more than ever before. To keep up with this increasing demand, Stellar adopted the Procore construction management software to streamline our project management processes and communicate even faster.

We’ve been using the software for a couple of years, but we’ve truly realized its tangible benefits in the past several months. The bottom line? A more efficient project translates into time and cost savings for the owner. Here are four ways our clients are benefitting from this new process:

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Views: 1916

The Pros and Cons of Your Facility Location with Stricter LEED v4 Criteria

When it comes to earning LEED certification, the location of your building plays a major role. After all, site selection accounts for 26 out of a possible 110 credits under LEED v4 New Construction — that’s more than halfway to the 50 credits required to achieve LEED Silver status.

A variety of factors determine whether your site is eligible for certain credits. Many times, simply looking 10 feet beyond the city limit and into county land can make a dramatic difference in cost or eligibility to earn certain credits.

Urban sites offer many “given” points that don’t require site modifications, such as access to public transit, but property near a city center is often more expensive. On the other hand, “paid” points that involve investing in site modifications — such as Sustainable Sites credits — realistically require a larger piece of land, which is often hard to find near a downtown area.

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Views: 1872

Industrial Dust Collection Systems: Which Is Best for Your Food Processing Facility?

Controlling dust is a major concern in food manufacturing, whether you’re roasting coffee beans, mixing spices or using flour as a release agent for your baked goods. Whenever there is potential dust in your processing environment, you want to capture it at the source.

Managing dust is critical for a variety of reasons:

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Views: 1838

4 Ways to Reduce COVID-19 Risk in Your Facility

Now that COVID-19 is a risk encountered in everyday life, food plant owners and operators are looking for ways to protect their staff and facilities that are cost-effective and don’t hinder productivity.

As scientific authorities continue to nail down exactly how COVID-19 is spread, the overwhelming evidence suggests the virus primarily travels and is transmitted through droplets in the air. That’s why shielding your facility from an outbreak starts with its HVAC and refrigeration systems.

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