Case Studies

Below you will find a collection of case studies about expansions, modernizations, retrofits, and upgrades in addition to design, build, fabrication and installation challenges and the solutions

Case Studies For Sanitary Process Systems for Wineries, Breweries, Milk, Dairy, Food, and Beverage Facilities

Challenging problems require creative solutions and that’s what we’re all about. From working with small start-ups to partnering with Fortune 500 companies like Nestle, Coca-Cola and Kraft, our successful projects and satisfied customers are what keep us from accepting the status quo. Check out some of our sample case studies to see how we manage a project from start to finish.

Portable Sanitizing Cart

Project Background Our customer is a leading manufacturer of cheese, whey protein, and other dairy ingredients. Maintaining a clean and sanitized production facility is vital to ensuring dairy products are safe for consumers and will have maximum shelf-life. Most sources of contamination come from outside the production facility and are brought in by various means such as articles of clothing, equipment, tools, etc. For our customer, there was a concern that bacteria from uncontrolled and unsanitary parts of their facility

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Fruit Dosing

Project Background Our customer is a premiere supplier of milk and dairy products to the Western region of the United States. As market demands change, so do the product offerings our customer must be able to produce. Fruit in a yogurt cup is a type of product that is consistently consumed and is one of our customer’s primary product offerings. To keep a fresh spin on the fruit in a yogurt cup concept, new ways of presenting the fruit must

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Dairy Milk Pre-Heater

Project Background Our customer is a leading manufacturer of dairy products including nonfat dry milk and skim milk powders. A key step in the milk drying process is to pre-heat the milk prior to entering the dryer using various types of heat exchangers. The type of heat exchanger our customer used to pre-heat their milk was a triple tube which required frequent servicing. Wear items, such as gaskets and seals, must be replaced to keep the heating medium from entering

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Wine Filtration

Project Background Our customer is a leader in producing high quality wines with small winery methods. A fundamental process for wine production is filtration. Filtration of wine can enhance its appearance, shorten aging time, lighten color, make the wine more stable, and reduce the chance of re-fermentation while in the bottle. Adding “polish” to a wine’s appearance is a choice many wine producers make. Our customer needed a repeatable and automatic filtration system for the finish and stabilization of wine

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Jacket Warming Water

Project Background Our customer is a leader in producing luxury wines of various varietals. A fundamental key to making a repeatable quality of wine at a consistent production rate is to ferment the wine at a defined and steady temperature. To do this most winemakers rely on the natural heat of fermentation and steady ambient temperatures. The issue is that harvest, crush, and fermentation can span for weeks which means the day and night ambient temperatures are likely to fluctuate

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Process Steam Optimization

Project Background Our customer is a premiere supplier of milk and dairy products to the Northwest region of the United States. As the demand for their milk products increased due to population growth within their region, so did the need to expand their production capabilities. As with most dairy producers, and food manufacturers in general, our customer needed to increase production within their existing production plant by expanding its infrastructure and adding more fluid milk processing equipment. The problem faced

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Skid Mounted Centrifuge Separator Options

Project Background Our customer is a premiere producer of various spirits including wine. At a major winery located in Monterey County, a combination of centrifuge separators and a diatomaceous earth press filter were used to clarify the wine after fermentation. As production demands and fermentation capacities grew, the winery’s filtration capacity was creating a production choke-point. The existing press filter was large, costly to maintain and operate, and had a limited capacity, whereas the separators had a small footprint, were

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Frame Mounted Thermal Process Assembly

Frame Mounted Concept Fabricate components on a supporting frame including tanks, control panel, disconnect switches, valves, pump(s), instruments, and piping Complete majority of system fabrication offsite Perform shop functional testing and customer acceptance testing before shipment Focus field work on equipment handling and interconnecting piping Use same crews for shop fabrication and installation for seamless integration Frame Mounted Advantage Reduce labor costs when installing in an existing process environment Minimize disruption to existing production and quality operations Reduce contractor personnel

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New Life for Old Equipment

Improve Processing at a Substantially Reduced Cost and Lead Time by Utilizing Existing Equipment High-end food and beverage equipment represents a significant investment in company resources. When changes occur — lines are shut down, processes are relocated, or consumer preferences change and equipment becomes obsolete — that once valuable equipment is no longer needed. This now seemingly useless equipment tends to either occupy precious space in a facility or get discarded. With companies and consumers becoming more environmentally and economically

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Energy Conservation

Improve Operating Costs through Heat Recovery Using Green Engineering A large portion of every plant’s operating costs go toward paying for utilities and energy consumption. Recovering heat and turning it into energy for the plant can reduce those expenses. That’s where Placer Process Systems can help. We will review your current systems and determine where lost energy can be recaptured, thus saving you money. The Problem: Boiler Pouring Money Down the Drain A leading beverage manufacturer was wasting heat, energy

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