Emerson Square | Ohio Valley University | PWP Plastics
Mill Street Village | Wayne Street Medical Offices | Marietta Memorial Hospital South Pavilion | PARS Brain & Spine Institute | W.H. Sammis Plant | Kraton Polymers
A major plastics manufacturer expanded its operation into Mineral Wells, WV from Vernon, California. This company is a leading producer of PETE thermoformed packaging. A unique feature and design challenge from this company was to introduce integrated in-line recycling machinery that grinds 100% of all waste material into raw pellets that are mixed with new material, extruded into a sheet and sent right back through production. This project was broken into three phases over three years and Pickering Associates provided all the professional design services.
The project scope consisted of renovating an existing metal building into process areas, adding an additional building for material processing and conveying. The existing building could not support all of the supported loads, so a comprehensive pipe rack was designed and installed. This initial phase also involved designing the infrastructure for two phases of construction including all the chilled water for the process, material conveying and recycling lines, equipment pads, and the electrical upgrade. Pickering Associates performed the air quality permit as well as construction inspection. This total expansion involved 2 extruders and four thermoformers and associated support equipment.
This phase involved the engineering and design to double the output capacity of the plant by adding two more extruders and four more thermoformers.
After much success of the West Virginia plant, the owners chose to add two more extruders and four more thermoformers for a completely different process. The project scope involved another metal building approximately 40,000 sq. ft. to bring the total manufacturing floor space to approximately 200,000 sq. ft. and the entire electrical and mechanical infrastructure as required for this new process. Some notable design challenges were the outdoor transformer enclosures, the design of the new structure to work with the existing buildings, and the extensive site work for this new expansion -including roadways, parking and truck docks. This forward thinking client continues to use our service and is one of our best industrial clients!