Food Processing Projects

Sugar Refinery
Louisiana Sugar Refiners - Gramercy, Louisiana

A consortium consisting of Cargill Inc., Imperial Sugar Company, and Sugar Growers and Refiners Inc. (a marketing cooperative consisting of 700 Louisiana cane growers and eight cane mills) chose Baisch as the lead engineer for a new sugar refinery in Gramercy, Louisiana.  This is the first new sugar refinery to be built in many years and with a capacity of one million tons per year, it is the biggest in the USA.  Baisch provided process, mechanical, civil, and structural engineering services along with part of the electrical and process control/instrumentation work.

The project includes raw material handling, the refining and cleaning process with all ancillary equipment and systems, and loading and shipping of the final project.

For more information on this project, go to:
http://www.iscnewsroom.com/?s=lsr+refinery

ControlLogix Programming & Project Management
Antigo Cheese - Antigo, Wisconsin

At the Antigo, Wisconsin plant, Antigo Cheese has three vats used to product Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago cheese.  The recipe constituents were added manually to each batch, which was time consuming and subject to human error.  Baisch suggested automating the process and designed a PLC system which accommodated ten standard recipes with variable fill volumes.  The production manager has the ability to change the standard recipes without the assistance of a programmer.

The items controlled by the new system are:  fill volume, starter addition, rennet addition, sit and cut times and speed, cook temperatures, transfer to the drain tables, and the clean-in-place system for the cheese making room.  The PLC is also connected to the plant-wide internet via Ethernet and is remotely accessible to allow Baisch to provide technical support and troubleshooting expertise from any location with internet access.

Baisch fabricated and assembled all of the control panels for this project.  All components were assembled and tested in our facility prior to shipping to the site to minimize installation and start-up time.

Powdered Milk Canning Line
Saputo Inc. - Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

The project consisted of relocating an entire powdered milk canning line from one facility to another.  The system consisted of bulk unloading, pneumatic and screw conveyors, vibratory screening, and a can filling operation.  The cans were then sealed and conveyed to an automatic case packer.

Baisch's scope included evaluation and specification of supersack unloading equipment, devising alternative methods of conveying to accommodate the new layout, and replacing the existing relay based control system with an Allen Bradley PLC.  We evaluated all existing equipment capacities to accommodate system operating revisions.