DESIGN: FOOD PROCESSING

FACILITIES
DEMANDS OF FOOD MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS CREATE
UNIQUE DESIGN CHALLENGES.
Food manufacturing operations possess design challenges that are unique to the food industry.
Unlike most other facilities, food plants will endure physical and chemical abuse on a daily
basis. The need to maintain a hygienic processing environment requires a facility that can be
sanitized on a daily basis with harsh chemical cleaners and sanitizers. The temperature
requirements often range from the extreme heat of hot processing and cooking to the below
zero cooling of products and rooms. The multitude of food product handling equipment moving
throughout the facility presents the opportunity for damage to floors and walls with every
passing.
The processing of meat, poultry, dairy, bread, and cheese products, to name a few, must be
performed under the ever watchful eyes of government regulations and third party inspection.
The necessity of FDA, USDA, HACCP, SQF and BRC inspection makes layout and design of
the food facility ever more important. In order to produce food safe products, key factors should
be considered when laying out and designing the facility. For example, how the food
preparation, production and packaging flow are integrated into the layout of the facility affects
the ability to implement FDA, USDA, HACCP, SQF and BRC requirements. Also, the flow of this
process and how it is integrated with employee movement is important for both efficiency and
food safety.
And once the facility layout has been established, the components and materials of the facility
design must be determined. The design must account for considerations that affect food safety,
sanitation, life-cycle cost, durability and maintenance.
Food Plant Engineering has in-depth knowledge of the nuances of designing a food facility. We
will discuss with you the many options and cost/benefits of different design solutions and
material options.
Our complete package of design services includes:

FACILITY

Site/civil planning

Building code/zoning review

Space planning

Architectural/structural plans

Green design concepts

3-D Modeling/BIM plans

PROCESS

Production capacity studies

Process flow plans

Material and work flow plans

Process piping

Dry ingredients

Wet ingredients

REFRIGERATION

Cold storage systems

Coolers and freezers

Halocarbon/freon systems

Ammonia systems

Glycol systems

Heat recovery

ELECTRICAL

Distribution systems

Lighting systems

Switchgear and MCC layouts

Controls

Process equipment integration

Back up power

HEATING & COOLING

Clean rooms/HEPA filtration

Chilled water/glycol

Exhaust/ventilation

Condensation control

Plant airflow studies

Variable volume air systems

PIPING

Process equipment piping

Boilers/steam/condensate

Natural gas/inert gas

Compressed air

Hot/cold water

Clean-up water/waste water