Efficient, flexible bakeries are easy to design with a greenfield facility. Things get a bit trickier in a brownfield operation.
“Greenfield is like a blank canvas for a painter and be an opportunity to design the ideal solution,” said Todd Allsup, vice-president, Stellar. “Certainly there are considerations to be mindful of — the location, the site. Typically, the greenfield site will give the most flexibility and, ultimately, highly efficient solution.”
With a brownfield facility, bakers will be limited by the walls of the existing building and need to get creative with layout. Linear production isn’t necessarily an option in all brownfield plants. “The basic infrastructure is going to be the same [as a greenfield facility], but you have to arrange it differently,” said Stuart Jernigan, director of pre-construction, AM King.
Greg Carr, director of project planning for baking and snack, The Austin Co., suggested bakers employ a strong team of engineers to help design an efficient bakery layout with a brownfield facility to ensure that all angles are considered: loads, utilities, floors and layout. “There’s so much to look at and think about, and if you don’t have the time to focus on it, you’re going to run into a lot of issues you didn’t think about when you come to do the installations,” he said.
