Important Elements In Designing A Food Processing Plant

Designing a food processing unit is not easy. There are various considerations to be made to make the perfectly optimal food plant. Food processing facilities must be reliable and flexible to produce high-quality, consistent, and high-volume product output. The design must have unique considerations since you will be dealing with edible and perishable products. 

If you have an idea for a business that requires a food processing plant, it helps to speak to a team of Stendel + Reich food plant architects. Food plant design consultants use a long-lens approach, so you won’t have to tackle design or layout problems yearly. They can predict the challenges and concerns in the coming years and plan ahead. 

Important elements in a food processing plant 

• Optimize site selection. 

The most crucial step is selecting the right location for a food processing plant. The three important considerations here are physical, logistical, and labor. 

Physical considerations: 

• Accessible to water, electricity, and gas. 
• Wastewater management options.
• Three to four times larger than the building’s planned size. 

Logistical considerations:

• Easy access to raw material suppliers and end-user markets. 
• Easy transportation of bulky shipments at low cost. 

Labor considerations: 

• Close proximity to training schools for untrained laborers. 
• Access to desired workers.
• Parking capacity of employees. 
• Close to public transportation. 
• Safety.

Safety should be the highest priority when making an architectural design for a food processing plant. Poor food safety policies can lead to dire consequences since these products are meant to be consumed by the public. Your business can suffer from legal ramifications if your food products make your customers sick or cause a loss of life. 

• Visitor-friendly interior and walk-through. 

Food processing plants often switch their vendors and suppliers when making changes in their product lines. Potential investors may also come to tour your food processing plant and take a close look at your facilities. Tour protocols have existed for a long time, but newer businesses are investing in specially designed walk-throughs. 

• Facilitate traffic management. 

What goes on outside the plant is every bit as important as what goes on inside. The paved areas around the facility, such as sidewalks, parking lots, and roads, are usually 1.5 times larger than the roof area in most plants. This area is used to accommodate trucks, rail cars, employee parking, deliveries, etc. 

To be safe, separate the freight traffic area from the pedestrian or walking area. Create separate spaces for entering and exiting the facility so that there is not much commotion at a single gate. It also helps to create distinguished areas for visitors and company employees.