Klondike Muenster Cheese Process Addition

About the Project

• Location: Monroe, WI
• Owner: Klondike Cheese Co.
• Designer: Power Engineers

Project Introduction

In the spring of 2017 Klondike Cheese Company embarked on their journey to achieve larger production goals. The Buholzer family’s vision required in depth research, planning, and precise action to execute. A vast portion of this project required the electrical design and installation expertise of PDC Electrical Contractors.

A challenge that this project faced was incorporating each specific equipment manufacturer and their complex engineering. The cheese making industry utilizes a blend of American, German, and Italian equipment.

Klondike used their own team of Master Cheesemakers to assist the general contractor in their duties.  Coordination of people, resources, and integration of all systems would prove to be challenging. Weekly progress meetings, constant communication, and extremely detailed planning were necessary to pull this 36,000 square foot cheese factory together.

Electrical Distribution

The existing distribution system was designed back in 2012 with intentions of adding the additional load for the new Muenster, Havarti cheese making equipment in the future.  

Numerous virtual meetings were needed to blend the needs of the three major vendors supplying their portion of the project. This was necessary to compile electrical load schedules, which in turn allowed us to size the electrical rooms needed and provide enough power to the new cheese making plant. The electrical load demands included: 155 motors, lighting, HVAC requirements, and miscellaneous support loads.  

With the assessment completed, a 2000-AMP switchboard extension was installed to house the additional distribution breakers. This was needed to power the new 1200-AMP distribution panel located in the Muenster addition mezzanine.

Panel feeders and branch circuitry were based on specific motor loads and their diversity applied to the system. Specific design concepts utilized the available space within room. The cable routing system was taken into consideration as well during this design stage.

The process motors were assigned to a specific electric room based on the respective locations.  Branch electric panels were created at these areas to organize the motors for each of the process manufacturers. This layout and design would help ease any troubleshooting or preventative maintenance work when needed.

Open Concept VFD

Klondike requested an option for accessibility, programming, and serviceability for their VFDs. We worked with PDC sales and Electropower to design an arrangement suitable for their application. Each VFD arrangement encompasses all NEC requirements while providing the ease of accessibility of the open concept. The design and layout for each device was carefully implemented using each electric room to its maximum potential.

Each VFD assembly is assigned to its corresponding motor on the production floor. Clear nomenclature creates a safe and manageable work place for preventative maintenance and servicing.

Stainless Steel Raceway Construction

A custom designed 24” wide by 4” stainless steel tray system housed the power cabling while an additional 12” wide by 4” deep tray   system was used for low voltage process cabling. For sanitation purposes the trays were enclosed and peaked covers were used to keep debris from sitting on the flat surfaces. With careful planning and coordination, the tray system installation took place prior to the process equipment arrival.

Stainless steel conduit drops were utilized transitioning from the cable tray. 2,000 feet of stainless cable tray and 12,000 feet of stainless steel conduit were installed on the production floor.  It took a blend of experienced welders, fabricators, and electricians to pull all of this together.

Control design/installation

The I/O control cabinets were designed and assembled by PDC’s Automation group for the cheese-forms handling equipment; using pages of consolidated I/O lists from the German manufacturer of the equipment. Each enclosure is made of stainless steel and is custom assembled in our PDC Panel Shop.

Specifically designed for each location, the cabinets are incorporated throughout the production floor to be associated with the specific areas of operation. The placing of the panels was a challenge due to limited floor space and all of the equipment that needed to be installed. Panels needed to be accessible but not interfere with daily operations.

Inside the process control system, lies an intricate safety system. This system communicates to 185 safety devices within specific zones of operation.

Each area of the make room is broken down into safety zones. These zones incorporating light curtains, proximity switches, and locking gates, along with emergency stop stations. This safety system is programmed to lockout all energy sources within the zones, including electrical and pneumatic. Should operators or maintenance personnel need to gain entry.  

Along with the electrical control, a pneumatic control system was designed by PDCs engineering team. Individual equipment spec sheets provided the overview of each device. The twist behind this- All documents were in German! After the documents were translated, each specific fitting was crossed referenced and altered to accept American pneumatic products. A final total of 23 control cabinets including pneumatic, I/O, and power supply panels were installed. This led into a total of nearly 2,500 I/O connection points for the form handling equipment!

Along with panels for the form handling equipment, two other systems had to be installed as well. Cheese making equipment included 48 control panels and 1,500 field devices. This handled all of the milk receiving, milk storage, pasteurization, cheese making, and CIP functions. Another system that was system that was installed was the automated brine system. This required 5 of control panels and 85 of field devices. Finally, was the addition of new packaging equipment in the existing packaging room. The control, branch, and distribution power led to a staggering grand total of 225,000 feet of wire used!  

An extensive Ethernet network was installed to the many control panels, and all of the VFD control panels. Three different electric rooms were used to house all electrical equipment needed for this project.