[ IFC ]
Aspects of future food factory design Production capacity expansion projects in the food industry is a multi-disciplinary exercise that requires experience and industry insight. Food productions meet increasing demands for cost-efficiency, quality, hygienic production environments and sustainable supply chains from authorities, consumers and owners. Hence, food factories are often complex facilities that are designed with a set of important requirements as well as being ready for smooth expansion possibilities and opportunities to change product mix according to market developments. At NIRAS, we have developed an industry-unique methodology to evaluate your future food factory project. Whether your company is looking at building a new greenfield production plant or making improvements to existing sites, NIRAS provides a full range of evaluation and decision support that will enable your organisation to take the best possible course of action from feasibility study to factory layout, and budgets in the initial project phase to complete design and project execution. Feasibility Study Our evaluation and decision support studies assess the practicality of your plan and evaluate how best to deliver your project goals. Using expertise, we produce an entirely independent, well-considered document that examines the concept, technologies, cost-to-achieve, time frame and programme in enough detail to inform investment decisions. A feasibility study can also be a crucial document for securing funding. It allows both clients and their funding sources to know what the project will look like, the level of risk, how much it will cost and what it will deliver in great detail. Current state We create a model that considers the process, the required ingredients, the time scale and the techniques. This model will devise how to achieve the desired end result by setting out facts and numbers based on current operations and future projec-
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tions. By comparing the current state to the future state, we can define business objectives, identify improvement areas and scope out the necessary changes. We can then prescribe scenarios for the future state of products, processes, and demand in order to achieve the project goals. Creating an effective & efficient layout Whether your project requires an entirely new factory or whether it necessitates an expansion of an existing facility, the layout of the new areas will need to be planned out with careful attention to numerous important factors. Establishing an effective factory design requires consideration of equipment solutions, the flow of production, processes and people, manning requirements, and health and safety regulations. It will also need to take note of other factors such as shift patterns, changeover times, energy requirements, technical requirements and utilities and services. With all of these factors in mind and a wealth of skill and experience, we create drawings to design the most efficient and cost-effective layout possible. Creating a phased master schedule Considering all operational requirements from beginning to transition right through to optimisation, we create a master schedule with a phased implementation programme for your project going forward.
BY MORTEN AAE OLANDER, MARKET DIRECTOR AT NIRAS, MOOL@NIRAS.DK
Main phases in NIRAS capex project model. The Evaluation phase secures the good project foundation for the later project phases.
From initial feasibility to operational food plant
IMPLEMENT
EVALUATE
DESIGN
OPTIMISE
TRANSITION
