Grande Cheese Facility Expansion

The Grande Juda site expansion was a work in progress for a year before the main project could start. PDC was a major contributor in getting the small miscellaneous projects completed to accommodate the site expansion. The site is made up of a cheese plant, whey plant, and a waste water facility for each of the production plants. Four years ago, PDC sat in the conference room of their cheese plant (now a utility room) with the owner, engineer, and other contractors to start planning out the phases of the project between the site utilities, new digester with bio-gas generator, and the cheese plant. This meeting additionally included PDC assisting with the design for each of these phases for means and methods, which Grande relied heavily on us and our experience in these industries.

The majority of the upgrades were going to be taking place in the cheese factory under the direction of Grande's owner's engineering team. The plant renovation included, but was not limited to, a new HTST, new milk RO/UF, silo room addition with 8 new silos, a new starter room, new mill mix mold area where two new chill tunnel serial number 1 and 2 would be installed, redesign of the entire packaging area, rework the three bay intake, add two 500 HP ammonia compressors, rework the 600 HP and two 150 HP ammonia compressors, install three new boilers and two new air compressors, three new separators, a new clarifier, and reworking the entire control system from the backbone of the plant all the way to each device. Outside of the cheese factory they installed a new digester building for their waste water, which connected to a bio-gas generator to back feed one of the switchboards in the plant to save themselves on energy costs. Grande constructed a new chemical building to house all the sites chemicals so they could house the additional chemicals they would need when doubling production and the size of the facility. Lastly throughout the second year on site they would loop the seven utility transformers in the event of an underground failure.

Temporary Facilities

The first major undertaking of the project was to move the cheese plant offices and locker rooms into temporary facilities. Grande brought in 16 temporary office trailers to make one large complex containing a reception area, 16 office areas, two conference rooms, a break room, and locker rooms. These trailers needed power to each individual unit with their own lights, receptacles, heaters and air conditioners. Due to the loads on the trailers and where they were being placed in location to the construction, we had to bring in four temporary utility services just to feed each trailer. The four services consisted of a new overhead line to the trailer location, four transformers, and four 400 amp 120/240 volt panel boards to feed the trailers. A cable tray system was installed to route the power cables to each individual trailer panel. Since these were going to be their offices for the duration of the project we also needed to bring a fiber from the other side of the plant into the temporary facility to provide a network connection to their main IDF for all communication.

During excavation for the base of these temporary facilities the excavation contractor located a couple of electrical feeders that went out to the waste water plant. One was damaged, requiring us to shut down a waste water tank and repair the damages. After the initial digging for this part of the project, PDC and Grande put an action plan together that anytime any excavation was done PDC was required to be on site since there was so many underground feeders that were unknown from the lack of record drawings. PDC often had to react quickly with material and labor to fix underground feeders when they were damaged. This happened multiple times throughout the project, and the feeders were never down for more than 24 hours.

Equipment Relocation

After being on site for a few months and watching how the progress of the project was going, PDC determined that there were going to be a few issues with placement of existing items that would need to be relocated to keep the project pushing forward. There were two motor control centers (MCCs) in place that fed existing motors that couldn't be removed until the new ones were in place. The new VFD (variable frequency drives) boards were going to be mounted where these MCCs were currently mounted. The second item that needed to be relocated was a 4000 amp utility transformer that was placed too close to the new building addition. With a three day rolling shutdown scheduled, allowing PDC to have 36 working hours with the power off, we planned how to relocate all three items within 24 hours.

Working these tasks simultaneously we relocated two 16 section MCCs. One moved to the middle of the same room, and the other one moved to a different room completely. This consisted of unwiring every motor, power and control, extending the wiring to the temporary location, and reconnecting the wires. In total there was a combination of 68 VFDs and starter in the MCCs which found a new home during construction. PDC prefabricated wiring harnesses for the power and control wiring for each MCC section (32 total sections) to make the rewiring process go quick and smooth. After 23 hours we turned the power back on to each MCC and checked rotation on every motor with zero errors. This was a great accomplishment for the crew working on this task.

The utility transformer started at midnight, after waiting for a lightning storm to move through, with a 200 ton crane reaching over the building to remove the existing transformer and pad so we could start extending the conduit 125' to the new location. The new transformer and pad were already set just waiting for us to extend the conduits so we could pull new wiring into the switchboard. We preplanned so that each of the eight sets of 750 MCM copper were already cut to length on spools to minimize the down time of cutting the wire each time we needed to pull a new run in. From shutting off the power, to removing the existing transformer, pad and wiring, to extending the conduits to the new transformer and pulling wire, we turned the power back on to this switchboard in 18 hours. Both of these challenges we had in front of us went smoothly with no issues, which we can contribute that to the preplanning and making sure everything was ready to go when power was turned off. With the first major shutdown past us we quickly learned that downtimes at the plant would be few and far between. The facility itself shut down only two other times for more than eight hours in four years.

New Electrical Services and Process Areas

Once the relocation of the transformer and MCCs took place we able to start installing new equipment in the facility. We started with a new 3000 amp service that fed a switchboard and panels throughout the new and existing facilities. Adding panels in the new areas went great, but getting into the existing facility electric rooms presented its own set of challenges. We needed to route eight four-inch rigid conduits up the outside of the building and over the roof to various locations to refeed over three quarters of the plant's production areas.

As the work over the roof started to take off, the digester building was enclosed and ready for PDC to start work in there. We brought a 480 volt, 800 amp service from the existing waste water switchboard to power up the digester building. The digester building had areas where gasses where present, making these areas hazardous locations. Special attention to detail was taken in the areas rated Class 1 Div. 1 for explosive gas vapors.

Going through to make sure all the equipment is installed with the proper fitting and seal off was a major part of our quality control process when finishing up our work on the digester building. The bio-gas generator showed up for us to install and connect to the existing switchboard in the whey plant as we were completing the building. This generator and gear would allow the plant to supplement the methane generation to power a portion of the load on that particular switchboard, while still pulling power from the utility for the remaining load. The installation of the gear on the switch took many discussions and meetings with the utility to confirm all components would work when power was restored after the installation. With this coordination, the generator and utility powered switchboard started up as planned and has been helping reduce Grande's energy cost for the past two years.

While juggling scheduling manpower and tasks between the digester and cheese plant for six months, PDC completed the work on the new 3000 amp service and we starting to power up panels in the new electric room. This electric room fed the new silo corridor, new HTST, new milk RO/UF, the new separators, and the new clarifier. In these process areas, like the rest of the plant, PDC installed new stainless steel raceways which mimics the process piping for a clean sleek look, which is easy for them to clean and will last for a very long time. Also, in these new areas we installed over 300' of 30" x 5" stainless steel wire way that PDC had specially fabricated for this project. This special wire way was made with a divider placed in it so we could properly separate low and high voltage wiring in one wire way.

Chill Tunnels

Moving right into the next phase of the project, Grande's venture into a new cooling process of the cheese blocks had shown up. These are referred to as chill tunnels, which cool the blocks of cheese before entering the brine system. The chill tunnels were 10' x 8', and 50' long made of all stainless steel, and were stuffed in a room that was only 12' tall. These chill tunnels are the first two ever made, yes serial numbers 1 and 2, and as you can imagine not everything went perfect. With limited drawings and functional description on how it was planned, we seemed to always be reacting to what needed to be hooked up or had to think about what was next. PDC stayed one step ahead by asking as many questions as we could, and the chill tunnels worked as designed. It took about four months for these to start functioning once they were set in place.

With so many moving parts they each had six motors and over 50 control devices that needed to be wired and function as one. It took the better part of a year for them to get these working exactly how they wanted them to. Each chill tunnel was taken apart multiple times and worked on from inside out and outside in to accomplish what it needed to do. To help expediate the issues, PDC sat down with the minds behind the chill tunnels to help them redesign some of the controls to get it in better working order. It was trying for PDC to have guys working on the same two pieces of equipment on and off for over a year, but it came with a great sense of accomplishment when everything was running perfectly like the customer wanted at the end.

Packaging Area

Another part of the cheese plant that was taking shape from day one was the packaging area. The goal was to redesign the entire packaging room around one existing piece of equipment, the Cryovac. The final design of the packaging room came two years after our initial meetings about the project. Grande went through six different designs and three different engineering firms to finally complete what they have installed today. PDC was there to assist them with what power was available in the area to minimize their cost from power requirements, and to assist with conversion when they were receiving equipment and drawings from overseas where they use different voltages than in the US. Multiple pieces of equipment were temporarily hooked up and moved many times as the designed changed so many times as each engineer had their own ideas. To accomplish the packaging room additions we needed to add a new section to the other 3000 amp electrical service coming into the plant. In all, PDC had to modify or add all three services in the facility.

Major Shutdown — Control Panel Relocation

Two years into the project Grande was able to provide the contractors with a 12 hour complete shutdown of their production. PDC was tasked with moving a control panel from an existing area to a new area. While the physical relocation of the control panel was easy, the wiring was an arduous task. There were over 1000 splices made to extend the wiring from where the existing control panel sat to the new location. To ease the process during the shutdown, we had prefabricated a wiring harness made up with a numbering system.

The moment of truth came when starting the control panel back up, which took place with no wiring errors. Another defining moment for the crew on site.

Ongoing Operations

The project as a whole had very minimal down time. Most cutovers from old equipment to new were done with at least part of the facility still running. Many hours of planning went into making sure that when we changed items over we could perform the work in a safe manner without shutting down more than was required. With that being said, it seemed that at times the cart got ahead of the horse. We were tearing processes apart before there was a clear objective of what was going to replace it. This led to a lot of temporary equipment hookup to keep the plant functioning as normal, these were only supposed to be in place for a few weeks, but this turned into a few months at times. We constantly had electricians checking connections and splices to ensure we didn't have a failure or safety concern with all the washing down a cheese factory does on a daily basis.

Brine Room Addition

The last major portion of the work was the brine room addition. This was never part of the original design but was included to free up more production area where the existing brine system was. This needed to be a quick turnaround as the current system couldn't keep up with production doubling on the front end of the cheese making process. The brine area is a very corrosive area, so PDC's means and methods with the stainless steel work came in huge when planning for this area. We had six weeks to get all of the equipment and control devices installed and wired up for a completely functioning brine system that Grande could rely on.

Project Management Changes

Throughout the project there were some challenges that PDC had to adapt to and overcome. The project started as a time and materials project being managed by Grande themselves, then half way through Grande did a 'reset' and brought in a management firm to oversee the project. At this point the project was quoted for the remaining work to be completed. Then with six months left the management firm was let go, it turned back into a time and materials to finish up the loose ends. This became a daunting task for the project manager and superintendent to manage the billings, materials, and labor as the project changed management and processes. Along with this the superintendent was constantly getting calls from the maintenance department on site and asked to address maintenance issues on existing equipment that was not project related. PDC adapted to these constant needs by adding additional workers to the site to handle the maintenance issues separately, and under a separate project.

Project Totals

With the project closed, PDC had a lot to reflect on from over four years on the Grande site consuming 73,662 man hours. We relied on some other ABC members to assist us with manpower during the height of the project; Price Electric (ABC Iowa Member), Faith Technologies, Tradesman, and Trillium. They were all great to work with. Along with manpower we also relied on other ABC members such as United Rental, PAC-VAN, and Sunbelt Rental for our rentals on site over the length of the project.

• 1,187,605 lineal feet of copper wire
• 112,956 feet of total raceway (31,365 feet stainless steel)
• 935 lights installed (interior and exterior)
• 244 motors wired totaling 3,135 horsepower
• 1,352 control devices wired
• 98 control panels installed on custom stainless steel stands

During the entire project the customers deadlines were always met, whether that meant coming in early mornings, late nights, or on holiday weekends, with very minimal down times. This was accomplished with no lost time accidents over the four years. We can contribute that to the employees on site and their site specific daily JSA (Job Site Analysis), stretches, and morning huddles to stay safe and attentive throughout the long days on site.