SSOE recently partnered with a well-known Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to design a new manufacturing facility for agricultural products in the plant-based food industry. The overall design team was comprised of numerous entities in addition to SSOE that included multiple divisions within the OEM, as well as an architectural firm responsible for the building envelope and interior build-out.

There were six teams distributed across four countries in five different time zones. Successful execution of this project required frequent communication and close coordination.

The OEM partner is a major supplier of equipment in the process industries. They have the expertise and resources to provide the process and controls engineering. SSOE’s initial role on this project was to support the balance-of-plant design engineering, specifically the design and modeling of utility piping systems as well as the design and modeling of all the piping support structures throughout the plant. During the project, we also assumed responsibility for the design of steam, condensate, process wastewater, chilled water, potable water, and instrument air systems.

There were numerous challenges on this project that needed to be overcome by collaboration among all the design team members. One example is that the building design was already well underway when the other partners started detailed design so there were some unexpected constraints due to early assumptions regarding design criteria. Another challenge involved the mix of SI and Imperial units across the connections on equipment skids, piping system components, and in-line devices. Finally, due to supply chain issues prevalent at the time, the completion of OEM equipment skid design work was delayed which required an evolution of the project execution strategy to work around design information dependencies within the team.

Due to SSOE’s collaborative approach, attention to detail, and focus on the successful delivery of the overall project, our relationship with this OEM has been strengthened and we are well-positioned to collaborate on additional future projects.