Views: 2220

How to Build a Better Capital Budget for Your Food Processing Plant

‘Tis the season to … piece together your capital budget for the new year. When estimating your numbers for food processing projects on the horizon, don’t just base your predictions on what you did the last time around. You shouldn’t be estimating costs based solely on square footage, either. However, there are ways to build a higher confidence level behind your budget and ensure its accuracy—it all lies within the data. Continue Reading “How to Build a Better Capital Budget for Your Food Processing Plant”

Views: 4400

5 Ways to Reduce Preventive Maintenance Costs for Your Food Processing Plant

Preventive maintenance should be one of your key strategies to keeping your plant’s assets healthy. While equipment upkeep and parts replacements are necessary, there are ways you can reduce your preventive maintenance costs without decreasing your food processing facility’s operational efficiencies.

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Views: 501

Comment Deadline Approaching for Proposed HARPC FSMA Amendment

 


After receiving over 20,000 comments, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently amended several previously proposed rules for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), including the Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls (HARPC) for Human Food rule. To address food safety from the beginning, the proposed HARPC rule requires preventative measures be taken at food processing facilities. While the FDA is currently accepting comments on the update, the December 15 deadline is rapidly approaching.

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Views: 2112

Are HEPA Filters the Most Valuable Choice for Your Plant?

Because billions of particles lace unconditioned air with dust, dirt, bacteria and pathogens, your plant’s air filters are crucial to preventing contamination and ensuring food safety. But when it comes to filtration, more isn’t necessarily better. This is especially true with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. While HEPA filters may be a necessity for some plant environments, they could be expensive overkill for others.

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Views: 998

Why Your Expansion Plan Needs Supply Chain Modeling

As the food processing industry continues to flourish, many manufacturers are faced with the need to increase capacity. Whether it’s adding a new process line, building an additional plant or expanding an existing facility, conducting a supply chain analysis in partnership with your design team can lead to better decision-making and more efficient capital expenditures.

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Views: 6853

The International Building Code’s Modification to Exit Access Travel Distance

The 2015 International Building Code includes a key modification, increasing the length of exit access travel distance from 250 feet to 400 feet (if it meets specific criteria) for buildings containing Group F-1 and/or S-1 occupancy. This change is significant to the design industry, building owners and occupants of large distribution and manufacturing facilities. Understanding the code’s implications for your existing and future facilities will ensure you’re properly prepared. Continue Reading “The International Building Code’s Modification to Exit Access Travel Distance”

Views: 2292

Five Steps in Energy Modeling to Make Your Building More Efficient

This week, we welcome guest bloggers Thulasi Narayan and Andrew Lee from Paladino and Company. Paladino is an industry leading green building and sustainability consulting firm with a team of architects, engineers, building scientists, commissioning agents and business analysts who advise companies on energy efficiency. Stellar often partners with Paladino to estimate energy performance, help develop energy reduction strategies and track estimated performance against the project’s energy goal during the design process.

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Views: 18242

Five Things To Consider When Selecting A Site For Your New Plant

Earlier this year, Food Processing magazine’s Kevin T. Higgins claimed that being a food manufacturer was the next best thing to being a king. Why? Because most new plant projects and renovations are now supported by generous, multimillion public subsidies. But while communities dangle expensive bait in hopes of catching job creation, it’s skewing the site-selection process, resulting in plants built in unfit locations. Continue Reading “Five Things To Consider When Selecting A Site For Your New Plant”

Views: 901

Eight Critical Steps in Water Treatment To Protect Your Products and Equipment

Whether you’re designing a new food processing plant or upgrading an existing facility, determining necessary upfront water treatment is a critical step in protecting and maintaining your plant’s systems. Many plants forgo thorough analysis resulting in poorly or untreated water that can lead to scale and bacterial buildup on equipment. Stellar often partners with water treatment professionals such as Southern Waters Company, Inc. to effectively manage clients’ clean water requirements.

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