Overview
The General Mills Cereal Plant in Albuquerque ranks as one of the largest
construction projects to come to New Mexico in years. The plant has
its own railroad spur and is one of the largest users of electricity
in Albuquerque.
This was the first horizontally designed plant
for General Mills, and they brought engineers from all over the
country to observe it. This was also the largest computer automated
project in the country at the time.
To facilitate construction
in May 1991, GARDNER ZEMKE completed the site’s temporary
power consisting of four power locations and a 500KVA service
feed
by 12,470 volts, which is definitely not typical of temporary
service. Work also included the site telephone utility, with
manhole.
In 1992 GARDNER ZEMKE’S Electrical Division signed
additional contracts for the processing and packaging of cereals.
The work
consisted of instrumentation and electrical, labor intensive
small conduit, and associated wiring. The GARDNER ZEMKE Electricians
completed the start-up in two weeks where the Owner had anticipated
a two to three month schedule. Because of General Mill’s
high confidence in GARDNER ZEMKE, we maintained a presence at
the plant after it’s initial completion. |
We worked on a T&M
basis performing many tasks modifying the existing plant. Each
task required a NTE estimate prior to beginning work, then costs
were closely monitored and reported to plant personnel to insure
that budgets were met. The tasks included everything from running
additional lighting to control system upgrades.
In 1997 GARDNER ZEMKE
began one of the major tasks at General Mills known as Delivery
System Replacement Project. In 1998 work started at an extension
to the north side of the plant called the Jetzone Building. A 120’ by
30’ slab was poured and the necessary grounding was installed.
Three 3” conduits with 400 MCM wire, running approximately
50-0’ across the plant was provided. GARDNER ZEMKE was also
responsible for all electrical connections to equipment that was
brought in from another General Mills facility.
In 1999 the plant
upgraded and expanded one of their production lines and installed
a robotic conveyor system. The work included the electrical
disconnection of the existing equipment and the removal of existing
conduit and wire, then installing the new equipment and running
new conduit and wire, and testing everything out. The robotic conveyor
was designed to take the place of several forklifts, which carried
packaged cereal products to the truck docks. The conveyor system
was completely computerized and designed so each section works
independently.
The boxes of cereal move along the conveyor while sensor eyes regulate
their speed and movement. GARDNER ZEMKE was responsible for the
electrical installation and testing on this project. |
