Capacity Expansion & Commissioning

1Project overview

A capacity expansion that moved processing in-house: commissioning a rendering plant upgrade and installing a new cracked corn milling line.

2Objective

Expand in-house processing capacity and reduce reliance on costly outsourcing.

3My role

• Supported installation and startup of a new cracked corn milling line.
• Coordinated RFQs and evaluated vendor equipment.
• Supported commissioning and startup of the rendering plant upgrade.
• Redesigned material handling and flow to add capacity.
• Built ROI, NPV, and decision-tree analyses for each expansion option.

4Engineering approach

1. Equipment selection

   Issued RFQs and compared vendor equipment on capability, cost, and fit with the existing process.

2. Flow redesign

   Reworked material handling and flow so the added equipment translated into real capacity.

3. Commissioning

   Supported installation, commissioning, and startup of the upgraded rendering plant and the new milling line.

4. Financial case

   Evaluated each expansion option with ROI, NPV, and decision trees.

5Analysis and visuals

Image to add: Before/after material-flow diagram

A simple sketch of the flow before and after the redesign, or a photo of the commissioned line.

6Results and impact

• ~$20Moutsourcing savings

Expanded in-house processing capacity and removed about $20M in outsourcing costs.

7Tools and technologies

• RFQs
• Vendor evaluation
• Commissioning & startup
• Material flow design
• ROI
• NPV
• Decision trees