During the 20 years that Integrated Food Projects has been delivering projects for some of the most successful food and drinks manufacturers around the world, we have been faced with many challenges. In this blog, Tony Hennessy takes a look at some of these challenges and how we overcame them.
Traditionally, when a business requires expansion and a larger manufacturing footprint, many food and drink manufacturers are unable to invest the significant sums required for a new purpose-built and innovative facility. Instead, they then look at re-purposing and converting an existing facility to meet their requirements.
In theory, this may seem an easier and lower cost option, however, it is by no means straightforward. For instance, there may be concerns over meeting capacity demands, the existing facility may not have the ideal layout for a food production operation, and there might be questions over utility demand.
Utilising our extensive experience in engineering and construction, and our familiarity with the demands and extremely high standards required in food and drinks facilities, IFP has the experience and knowledge to convert existing facilities into both low-risk and high-care food production facilities – often under extremely strict time constraints whilst adhering to set time financial budgets.
A recent example of our expertise in this area is a family owned business specialising in the growing, packing and marketing of fruit, vegetables and sub-tropical produce of home-grown seasonal vegetables and herbs. After the acquisition of two companies in 2018, they engaged with the IFP Group to assist in integrating the new additions into their business.
The project centered around the creation of a high-care but low-risk facility which would enable integration of their new businesses seamlessly into their existing one. The new facility required significant re-modelling to convert an existing 3800 sqm warehouse. The challenge given to IFP Construction was to create a facility that gave maximum flexibility, allowing for growth of the new businesses whilst reducing capital investment and looking to minimise operational expenditure costs.
Due to business relocation and the seasonal requirements of the produce, time was critical to the successful delivery of the project. Ultimately, IFP Construction minimised the design to construction time, organising all statutory approvals and were onsite within 10 weeks – a delivery pace made possible by our contract procurement approach and the collaborative engagement of the whole team.
With Brexit looming and the uncertainty around how the new business landscape will look, many businesses are now looking at consolidating stock levels within the UK, re-mapping their labour and personnel requirements and targeting the right facilities to ensure continuity in their manufacturing and distribution.
IFP Construction can assist with all these elements and have the team to deliver on time and within budget. For more information, please get in touch with Tony for a chat:
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