LITEHOUSE INC.

Project Description

Client: Litehouse Foods
Location: Hurricane, Utah
Project Size: 180,000 sq. ft. design | build expansion
Facility Type: Salad Dressing Processing Facility

Expansion Triples Existing Plant Size

Less than Three and a Half Days of Processing Shutdown

Choreography and construction may seem like disparate concepts, but they are not. Choreography, or ‘phasing’ as it is called in construction, often requires complex ‘footwork’ done in work boots. And, expanding and renovating an operational food processing plant intensifies the phasing footwork tenfold.

Fisher was hired by Litehouse foods to triple the size of their Hurricane, Utah salad dressing plant. Renowned for their expertise in expanding and renovating operational food processing plants.

Fisher’s design/build team added 180,000 SF to Litehouse’s facility without missing a beat. The expanded plant now supports the company’s dressing packet and cup line – a huge growth area for the company.

The project required careful choreography from the outset. Each phase of construction was carefully planned and performed so processing could continue. Beyond the usual construction activities, this required maintaining a continuous power supply and a clean production environment.

The 14-month project included building a two-story office, dry storage, processing room, freezer, and lastly a wastewater treatment building. The work was completed with less than 3½ days plant shut-down. Once the expansion shell was built, the multi-phased project hopped its way through the plant; phasing in new areas while consolidating others.

The concrete tilt-up expansion is lined with insulated metal panels (IMPs). Which offer exceptional energy efficiency and ease of cleaning. What’s more, the facility is now the company’s largest manufacturing plant. The Hurricane plant will contribute significantly to the production of 1 billion individual products produced and shipped by Litehouse next year.