Transforming brownfield infrastructure into modern distilling operations.

Project Approach

A worldwide distilling company contracted Matrix Technologies to develop and execute the masterplan for a 500,000 square foot brownfield facility located in southern Indiana. The facility would be used for batching, bottling and long-term network storage.

Scope of Work

Phase 1 – Conceptual Phasing

The first phase of the project involved developing the master plan for the facility and site. The end goal of the facility was to support 14 new packaging lines and hundreds of SKUs with a state-of-theart processing and batching system capable of minimizing batch times and maximizing quality. To start this phase of the project, a 3D laser scan was completed of the existing building. This was an important step in the kick off since existing drawings were not readily available. With the parameters of the project defined, the Matrix engineering team completed an accelerated preengineering effort to develop the phasing approach and initial budget to get the first set of lines running within 6 months.

Phase 2 – Lines 1 & 2, Processing, Batching, Facility Renovations

With the budget completed, the project was immediately approved and funded. Our engineers quickly transitioned into Phase 2 and completed the design build packages. The first pair of packaging lines was arranged into the space and manipulated to fit within the allowable area. With the packaging lines locked down, focus then switched to the processing scope. The Matrix process engineering team met multiple times with the Owners process team to develop the process and P&IDs for the batching system. To supply the batching system, a new two bay truck unloading station flow panel was installed at the rear of the property which allowed for truck transfer to interior raw material tanks. Once inside the building, the major raw ingredients and minor ingredients were pumped to the batch tanks using instrumentation, control valves, and flow meters controlled by a new automation system utilizing Rockwells FTBatch. This was the first fully automated process installed by the Customer in all their plants. The process integration, startup, and commissioning were completed by the Matrix automation team.

With the packaging and processing defined and design underway, the focus was switched to facility upgrades and renovations. The site was constructed in 1958 and had several additions added onto it over the years with the infrastructure dated and not suited for the new use. Our facilities team designed a centralized office space area, meeting spaces, a QA/QC lab, restroom & locker room, and a new lunchroom to accommodate the new staff.

Our engineering team and construction manager were able to complete phase 2 of the engineering, equipment installation and construction, as well as the startup up efforts in 5 months’ time.

Phase 3 – Bulk Depot

With Phase 2 operational, engineering and construction activities transitioned to Phase 3 of the master planning. This effort designed a complete build out of a long term bulk storage. With rail service available on the property, the business wanted to take advantage of large bulk volumes. The scope of this phase designed a storage system capable of 3,000,000 gallons of storage in twelve 250,000-gallon tanks. Because of poor soil conditions and the extreme weight, 340 auger cast piles were installed under the new mat foundation. The engineering and construction for this phase of the project was completed in six months with the tanks being built directly in place.

Phase 4, Phase 5, and Phase 6

The next three years, Matrix continued the phased implementation of the master plan with the continued build out of the packaging lines and processing systems. Matrix’s packaging team worked with OEM vendors and conveyor shops to develop the line layout for the next eight lines, making improvements and changes based on the Phase 2 installation. This included a descrambler, filler/capper, labeler, case erection and the ability to handpack, drop pack, or robot pack. These eight new lines were tied into a centralized palletizing system located in the finished goods warehouse. Our automation team worked closely with the packaging team during the design to develop the ideal line control for the unit ops and conveying systems. This required multiple meetings with the OEMs and Owner to lock in the design philosophy. The full line integration, startup, and commissioning was completed by the Matrix automation team.

To support the new packaging lines, additional batching cells were designed and installed. The capacity of these batching systems was doubled to allow for large bottle sizes to be run. In addition to the batching cells, a pair of bottling tanks was designed and installed for each bottling line. To support the additional raw material needs, two new unloading operations were designed and installed. The first structure installed a three bay truck unloading structure which was designed adjacent to the original unloading. This was a major upgrade for the processing team and allowed them to meet the raw material demands of the growing site. The second unloading operation allowed for the unloading of sugars required for the products SKUs. This included the installation of two heat traced tanks and twin-screw pump system to transfer the products three stories up and directly to the batching systems.

The engineering and construction for Phase 4, 5, & 6 was completed over a two and half-year span.

Phase 7 – Lines 11 – 14

The last phase of the master plan was the build out of 90,000 square feet area of the existing building to accommodate four new packaging lines that incorporated blow-molding technology, which was new to the site. Matrix completed this phase of the project under a Guaranteed Maximum Price contract unlike the previous phases that were completed as EPCm.

To prep the area for the new installation, all the existing walls in the space were demolished to allow for an open concept. Included with the demolition was 75,000 square feet of existing concrete slab, existing office areas, and structural walls. The existing floor in the area was originally designed to be a warehouse and did not allow for drainage required of packaging line, therefore, the floor was removed to allow for new spot drains and trench drains to be installed. The new drains were plumbed to a dedicated lift station, which was then directed to the existing onsite wastewater treatment plant. Along with the new drainage, 75,000 sf of 8” concrete slab was installed, and the floor finished with a urethane cement system.

To support the new packaging equipment, a new utility header system was looped around the room allowing for easy access to water and air. With the new blow molders, power consumption was a concern. Two new power services were added to the building to support this new requirement.

In addition to the packaging hall, the bottling floor was renovated to provide space to accommodate the new bottling tanks. The renovation included legacy demolition, new finishes – paint and flooring –, as well as a new concrete overpour and spot drains. Also included was an upgrade to the ventilation system in the space to allow for proper air exchanges and exhaust along with LEL detection.

Eight new 12,000-gallon bottling tanks were installed to support the new packaging lines, with a pair of tanks dedicated to one packaging line. To feed the bottling tanks, a new valve matrix was installed allowing transfers from any of the existing batching cells. The Matrix team worked closely with the Owner, equipment vendor and our contracting partners to complete the project on schedule and under budget.