PACK E Show ReXPO view Page 42
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010
Recognizing A Progressive Packager PMT’s winner of the Packaging Line of the Year built a processing and packaging facility from the ground up, that uses at least 25 percent less energy and water than a plant built to meet current standards while producing and packaging 30,000 cases of microwaveable meals daily.
By Sean Riley
A
longtime participant in the move toward more environmentally aware processing and packaging, Hormel Foods saw a golden opportunity to take their commitment to sustainability even further. With a need for additional production capacity of its Hormel® Compleats® microwaveable meals, the Austin, Minn.based multinational manufacturer saw the growth as an opportunity for the company to invest in a community with a state-of-the-art facility that would not only bring jobs to the local area, but also showcase the commitment of Hormel Foods to innovation, quality and sustainability. The result was Progressive Processing LLC’s, Dubuque, Iowa, facility, home to a state of the art automated and sustainable packaging line that earned the 2010 PMT Packaging Line of the Year. Presented since 2005, PMT’s Packaging Line of the Year Award is the packaging industry’s most prestigious recognition of packaging line innovation and engineering excellence. With more than 18,600 employees, Hormel Foods is a Fortune 500 multinational manufacturer and marketer of brand-name food and meat products for consumers throughout the world. Since its founding in 1891, Hormel Foods has been a recognized leader in the processing and marketing of a wide variety of products including hams, bacon, sausages, franks, canned luncheon meats, stews, chili, hash, meat spreads, shelf-stable microwaveable meals and salsas. In each of the past 10 years it has been recognized as one of Forbes “400 Best Big Companies” in America. Progressive Processing is just one of its many wholly owned subsidiaries. Company representatives accepted the award at a special PACK EXPO International session.
THE PLANT In July 2008, Hormel Foods broke ground on the new plant in Dubuque. The $89 million project was the first manufacturing facility the company had built from the ground up in more than 25 years. It was completed on time and on budget in approximately 18 months. The facility is currently operating two production lines, but was built to allow for future growth. The facility has the capacity to hold up to four total production lines. The decision to construct Progressive Processing was ultimately market-driven. Sales of Hormel® Compleats® microwave meals were booming and Hormel Foods needed to meet the demand by expanding their production capacity. From the start, Hormel Foods recognized the new facility was much more than a place to produce the microwavable meals. From the white membrane reflective roof and parking surface, which reduce solar radiation and heat load, to the premium-efficiency electric motors, Progressive Processing was designed to be as efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. The plant has an efficient retorting process which requires only a small amount of water that can be re-used multiple times. In addition, Progressive Processing saves on energy costs by reusing water for heating and cooling processes, as well as for flushing toilets and irrigation. The “waste” heat from the cooling cycle of retorting equipment, HVAC, boilers, air and ammonia compressors (refrigeration) is saved using geothermal-type technology. This heat is then redirected and used to heat the main offices and reception area. There are also 200 skylights to allow natural daylight to be used instead of electrical lighting during the day and dimmer controls for lights when additional lighting is needed. Each skylight is equipped with sensors that detect whether enough light is being provided naturally. In the event it is a cloudy day, low energy traditional lights automatically turn on. Sensor systems are also used to monitor and adjust the temperature of the rooms accordingly. Plant Manager Mark Zelle notes that every possible opportunity to find new uses for energy is employed. “When the plant first opened, one of our design engineers was getting something out of the vending machine,” says Zelle.
“While he was waiting for his purchase he surmised that there was heat coming off the top of the machine. Now that energy is redirected into heating the office.” Progressive Processing was built according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its completion it was awarded LEED® Gold status based on the total credits, or points, it earned for its green practices in six areas: materials and resources (13 points); indoor environmental quality (15 points); energy and atmosphere (17 points); sustainable site (14 points); water efficiency (five points) and innovation and design process (five points). Progressive Processing is the third food manufacturing plant to be a LEED-certified project at any level (it joins the PepsiCo Gatorade plant in Wytheville, Va., and the Kettle Foods potato chip plant in Beloit, Wis.) and the only refrigerated food processing facility to be LEED-certified at any level. Design of the facility was completed as a partnership between Hormel Foods Corporate Engineering Division and Gleeson Constructors and Engineers, LLC of Sioux City, Iowa. The construction used 25 percent less water and energy than a plant built to meet current building codes and industry standards and used materials con-
Selecting the Winner PMT’s Packaging Line of the Year Award is open to lines that have been installed or renovated within the previous 12 months. PMT editors and Editorial Advisory Board members evaluate entries on criteria including the packaging line’s contribution to the company’s business plan, the level of innovation in packaging line design, the use of floor space/layout of the line design and integration of machinery to optimize productivity. The editors of PMT, along with the PMT Editorial Advisory Board, selected this year’s recipient for its innovation, efficiency and execution. Past winners of the PMT Packaging Line of the Year Award are Barry Callebaut (2009), Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (2008), Swisher International (2007), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (2006) and Kraft Foods (2005).
sisting of more than 36 percent recycled content. Additionally, 85 percent of construction waste was recycled. From a cost standpoint, Hormel Foods understands there is a distinct environmental and economic advantage to using these resources multiple times and Zelle says the company expects to recoup the extra cost necessary to construct the facility during the first two years of operation.
PROCESSING THROUGH PACKAGE From the moment employees enter the Progressive Processing facility they pass a classroom style training room where they undergo up to 55 hours of training, which includes learning about food safety, thermal process training and the ins and outs of the machinery. Zelle acknowledges that it is part of the culture created at Progressive Processing to allow each employee to feel invested in the plant. “All of our operators handle everything from setup to changeover,” he says. Before entering into the processing area Zelle points out the efforts Progressive Processing goes to maintain the longevity and reliability of all its machinery. All of the oil used for keeping the processing and packaging machinery running smoothly is doublefiltered to keep out any chance of contaminants. This includes the equipment in the defrost room. Here, meats are defrosted and fed through a Loma Systems, Carol Stream, Ill., metal detector. This is the first of many places throughout the processing operation where Hormel Foods confirms that the food is free of contaminants. It is also where a barcode is attached to the product. Barcodes are
Progressive Processing Project Timeline 2007 – Identify need for additional production capacity of Hormel® Compleats® microwaveable meals. 2008 – Select Dubuque, Iowa, as site for new manufacturing facility. July – Break ground
added to the product at each stage in the process to carefully track the entire production, should a problem arise later. Upon leaving the defrost area on aluminum pallets, the meat is metered into an optical sorter from Best Sorters, Englewood, Colo. The aluminum pallets provide a clean-room environment for transporting product within the processing sector. Nearby, starches like rice and potatoes for the Hormel® Compleats® meals are processed through machinery from Lyco Manufacturing, Inc., Columbus, Wis. In the fill and seal area, a Multipond, Green Bay, Wis., scaling system is used where ingredients were previously hand filled. Another key improvement here is the ability to submit recipes through an Allen Bradley (Rockwell Automation), Milwaukee, Wis., touchscreen. “This is where recipes are vital as the system is capable of filling up to three separate items,” Zelle says. “One meal includes beef, potatoes and gravy, each of which could be filled utilizing the three shot fill process. An operator can’t make the mistake of selecting the wrong fill as the recipe is preloaded every morning.” In addition, there is a fourth generation Raque Food Systems, Louisville, Ky., line that can seal 240 microwave meal trays per minute, which uses servo motors and controls to track containers throughout the system. This line is a huge improvement in efficiency over the third generation machine that sealed 180 trays per minute, and certainly a great advancement from the early technology that debuted in the 1980s and filled just 10-15 trays per minute. Immediately before weighing and inspection, a Videojet Technologies, Wood Dale, Ill. coder applies the name of the product, the date and a code indi-
2009 – Hormel Foods continues facility development, despite difficult economy. April – Set first production equipment August – First maintenance staff started training September – Start up plant boilers October – Open office to initial staff December - First production
cating where and when it was packaged. The Engineering Research and Development team at Hormel Foods also developed a machine specifically for Progressive Processing that visually inspects each seal area for foreign material before sealing. Once the container is sealed, it passes over a Mettler-Toledo Hi-Speed, Ithaca, N.Y., checkweigher and then through a Mettler-Toledo Safeline, Tampa, Fla., x-ray system. This is yet another inspection for foreign material in the product. Progressive Processing installed Hartness International, Greenville, S.C., spiral conveyors to carry the product from the filling and sealing room to the retort room. “Besides moving the product, these conveyors can hold back up to two minutes of product in the event there is an unexpected downtime,” Zelle says. After the tray passes these inspections, it is automatically loaded into a crate by equipment specially designed by the Aagard Group, Alexandria, Minn., and then placed into 12 water immersion retorts supplied by AllPax, a division of Pro Mach, Covington, La. After the retort process is complete, the trays move to the final packaging line, which was also designed by The Aagard Group. This fully integrated line—which has one master control system and is therefore better synchronized than ever before—unloads the retort crate; wraps a Hormel® Compleats® branded sleeve around each tray to identify product flavor; loads six trays into a case; loads the cases onto pallets and then a Lantech, Louisville, Ky., stretch wrapper, wraps each pallet. All of these steps—including the adhesive application on the sleeve by Nordson Corp., Duluth, Ga.—occur without ever releasing the container or package. “This final packaging line is further improved by the fact
that it is only half the size of lines that serve the same function at other manufacturing facilities,” says Zelle. The line produces 240 six packs of meals a minute for an output of 180,000 Hormel® Compleats® meals a day. Importantly, before Progressive Processing opened, the reliability group at Hormel Foods worked to gather all necessary documentation for the machinery and spare parts. This allowed the team to put in place the planned maintenance schedules and parts for the line start-ups. The startup period is one of the times when information and parts is most critical for smooth operation, so this extra effort up front resulted in the plant production reaching normal operating speeds and productivity levels months ahead of previous similar line start ups. Sean Riley is the editor of PMT.
Presenting the Award PMT’s Packaging Line of the Year Award was presented at a special conference session at PACK EXPO International in Chicago, Ill. PMMI President and CEO Chuck Yuska (center) handled the honors before Progressive Processing’s Mark Zelle (left) and Jim Mino (right) described the intricacies of the facility and line to a sold-out audience.
R ep r i n t e d f r o m P M T N ove m b e r / D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 0 i s s u e