When Bell & Evans set out to design a new facility to expand their organic-certified harvesting operation, they knew that they wanted to build something revolutionary. Many years had been spent upgrading and retrofitting the previous Bell & Evans buildings, and the company wanted to ensure that this new plant would bring together every cutting edge technology and feature present in the best operations across the globe, to create a truly state-of-the-world facility.
With a stated goal to seriously increase the company’s production volume, Bell & Evans partnered with design-build firm Stellar, and set out to build this new “European-Plus” facility, with a focus on high-quality materials to ensure food safety and longevity.
Challenges:
This 411,500 sq ft facility was designed to process approximately hundreds of thousands of chickens per day, so it was vital that the materials used in its infrastructure and construction were designed to meet the absolute highest standards.
When applied to the plant’s drainage systems, this meant that they required a solution that would be able to keep up with constant cleaning and wash downs to ensure a hygienic environment, meet the strictest USDA and NSF design standards, and be built to last the lifetime of the facility – all while enduring heavy traffic from both employees and machinery.
Fortunately, Bell & Evans had already established a relationship with a company, over multiple years and projects, who could provide them with a product precisely designed and manufactured to meet their high standards and specific needs: FoodSafe Drains.
After reviewing the project requirements with Bell & Evans and Stellar, the Drainage Experts at FoodSafe Drains were able to confidently recommend 6433’ of the 10,000 Series FoodSafe Slot Drain as the main drainage system that would be used throughout the facility.
The 10,000 Series FoodSafe Slot Drain was specifically designed for large-scale food processing operations, as the ultimate option in hygienic design. It features a fully stainless steel body, specially designed to meet NSF and USDA standards, without any potential harbor points for bacterial contamination. This feature also makes the drain extremely easy and efficient to clean, doubly so when using the Slot Drain’s specifically designed cleaning tools. On top of this, the 10,000 Series has been manufactured to the highest possible heavy-duty load rating for an indoor facility, ensuring the utmost durability, even with daily forklift and machinery traffic.
The new Bell & Evans facility had another requirement however – with a stated production throughput of hundreds of thousands of chickens per day, they required large scale trench drains to act as feather flumes to remove solids from the production areas. For this use case, FoodSafe Drains recommended the use of 1,359’ of FoodSafe Round Bottom Trench Drain.
The FoodSafe Trench Drain is excellent for the removal of solid matter, due to its wide drain body and seamless design. Manufactured using high-quality stainless steel, and featuring heavy-duty, non-slip grating, the Round Bottom Trench Drain was the perfect product for this scenario.
Impressive Outcomes:
The Bell & Evans Organic-Certified Chicken Harvesting Facility began operation in December of 2021, and has been touted as the world’s most innovative poultry plant in the years since. With their absolute dedication to animal welfare, automation, and employee well being, it’s no surprise that the facility was awarded ‘Plant of the Year 2022’ by Food Engineering Magazine.
Bell & Evans has big plans for the future of the facility as well. Never content with ‘good enough’, there is still an additional 20% of space within the facility that could be renovated into another area for processing and packaging, should the need arise. On top of this, they have purchased enough land next to the plant that an exact duplicate of the building could be constructed quickly and efficiently – should the need arise.
In conclusion, the Bell & Evans Organic-Certified Chicken Harvesting Facility stands as a testament to innovation, efficiency, and unwavering commitment to excellence. This facility not only represents a milestone in poultry processing but sets a benchmark for the industry’s future. With its adaptable design and visionary approach, the Bell & Evans facility is poised for continued success and remains a shining example of what can be achieved through dedication to quality and sustainability.
