June 22, 2018

Overview

A large US nutraceutical company acquired a similar business and was required to consolidate the production and assets from the purchased site in New England into an existing facility in Canada. The company chose Grantek to provide a turnkey solution to meet aggressive timelines and minimize business impact of the acquisition and consolidation of the two facilities.

To help ensure efficiency and eliminate the possibility of duplicated effort, Grantek managed and coordinated the scope of work (SOW) for the other contractors engaged for the project.

Grantek also provided the following services for this project:

• Engineering Design
• Construction Services
• Commissioning and start-up
• Validation and production support, including documentation (Functional acceptance testing, site acceptance testing, and IQ/OQ/PQ)
• Training inclusive of OEMs and partners
• Ongoing support and maintenance services

Challenges

The facilities are located in two different countries, requiring knowledge of Customs, cross-border transport, and governmental regulations of both countries.

Equipment transfer from the US facility to the Canadian site, and the integration of the relocated equipment had to be accomplished on the customer’s tight schedule, otherwise potential market loss would be an issue.

Some existing equipment and processes at the old site would not  be grandfathered at the Canadian site to meet local and corporate regulations. This required some redesign as well as additional qualification activities at the Canadian site.

Solution

Engineering activities either managed by or performed by Grantek for this project included civil infrastructure, electrical power and utilities, control and safety systems, plant network and data center design; recipe management, batch control and reporting; and SCADA & OEE System. Because equipment from the US facility was being re-used in Canada, we also managed system migration and analyzed the impact of obsolete equipment and software.

Grantek successfully managed the project and executed their specialty portions of the work. The key to the successful facility integration was early engagement in the project. This allowed Grantek to develop the front-end loading (FEL) and develop a pre-project plan that reduced the project risk by clearly mapping out costs and tasks needed, well in advance of the actual work. The attention to detail during the planning stage resulted in clear alignment of scope to budget, reducing the likelihood of unexpected surprises during project execution.

To help ensure things went smoothly, Grantek only worked with trusted partners and subcontractors who had previously worked on successful turnkey projects managed by Grantek.

Grantek provided thought leadership via our comprehensive experience with projects involving multiple areas of specialty. Benefits of letting Grantek manage the project included Smart Manufacturing: Grantek has the experience and knowledge to understand business objectives and requirements and to follow Operational Management Best Practices as set forth in ISA95. The project had to comply with the customer’s Quality Management System requirement, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), SFCA, and product serialization requirements.

Grantek’s in-house Safety Practice helped to ensure the facility integration complied with local regulations, Corporate Compliance, and industry best practices. Grantek’s projects are evenly split between the US and Canada, providing the regulatory expertise to ensure safety features and systems are compliant with regulations applicable to the region as well as best practices.

Grantek’s extensive experience with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and in-house Cybersecurity Practice enabled Grantek to perform a physical and logical infrastructure assessment, which in turn resulted in a design that provides effective and secure manufacturing connectivity.

As the turnkey solutions provider, Grantek owned the project schedule and managed the other contractors and engineering companies involved, along with Grantek’s integration activities. Grantek coordinated with OEM providers and managed risk/mitigation for all aspects of the project. Utilizing Grantek as project manager provided the customer with clear insight into cost control and change management, offering a single-point view of changes affecting all subcontractors. This simplified project communication and reporting, along with the logistics involved with cross-border movement of site assets.

Allowing Grantek to coordinate safety-related activities resulted in cost savings and streamlining of required safety modifications. Grantek realized economies of scale by ensuring consistency in the purchasing and implementation of safety equipment and systems throughout the project.

Results

The facility migration project was completed on-time and within budget and ensured production capacity adequate for current and future projections. Productivity and product quality measurably increased at the integrated site, and a service and support system are in place to help keep downtime to a minimum.