Client: Confidential Dairy Plant
Location: North Carolina

The Product Recovery System™ (PRS) is a patent-pending technology to recover milk from raw and pasteurized lines, tanks, and equipment in dairy processing facilities. This product is normally discharged to the sewer. Therefore, the PRS process provides an attractive alternative to waste treatment, reduces waste and plant losses, and reduces sewer costs and surcharges. The milk is recovered with potable chilled water through pasteurized milk ordinance (PMO) valves and optic sensors and captured for use in ice cream, cultured milk, eggnog, cottage cheese, sour cream, and yogurt.

Gannett Fleming provided feasibility studies, as well as system layout and design services, and managed the construction of the PRS and a plant expansion. The system installation and construction required the addition of valves, sensors, programmable logic controllers, product lines, clean-in-place equipment and chemicals, storage and blend tanks, relocation of existing equipment, and a plant addition to accommodate the new processing equipment. In addition to preparation of construction contract documents, our firm acquired approved equipment, provided installation and construction oversight, and provided construction support services.

Special Features:

• PMO-approved valves, sensors, and programmable logic controllers
• Storage for recovered product
• Blend room construction and equipment for incorporation of skim milk powder, condensed skim milk, or cream
• Chemical storage areas
• Air-lock between chemical storage and production areas

Client: Confidential Client
Location: Various Locations, U.S. and Canada

Gannett Fleming was retained to perform water supply risk assessments for more than 20 food processing facilities. The assessments were performed to identify the risks associated with potential water supply curtailments and water rate increases. Our firm and the client developed a set of key metrics, or criteria, and risk-scoring protocols for each metric to quantify these water supply risks. Key metrics incorporated issues such as water use agreements/water rights status, supplier demand versus capacity, supplier water use restriction policies, supplier plans for capital improvements, regional drought and sustainability impacts, identified or potential groundwater or surface water contamination, and water rates.

A questionnaire was developed to provide much of the information necessary for scoring the metrics and was submitted to each facility's municipal water supplier. The responses from the questionnaires and additional research were used to score each metric and develop an overall water supply risk score for each facility. This information was used by the client to identify facilities where additional investigation into water supply issues might be required. Potential response actions proposed for facilities with significant risks included increasing water conservation efforts and establishing alternative sustainable water supplies. Our firm was retained to perform the water supply risk assessments annually based on the benefits that were realized.

Client: Confidential Beverage Client
Location: Confidential Location

Gannett Fleming was retained by this client to evaluate the sustainability of groundwater withdrawals from a sandstone aquifer at a water bottling facility. In order to conduct its evaluation, our firm reviewed existing published and unpublished reports, conducted a site visit to understand the existing groundwater withdrawal system and its mode of operation, and observed drilling of a new production well at the facility.

Gannett Fleming also reviewed state plant production and observation well-drilling records, mapped the probable recharge area for the facility’s land holdings, and developed an independent assessment of the local water budget. Based upon the work performed, our firm provided a maximum sustainable groundwater withdrawal rate and recommended a course of action for future development of the aquifer.

Client: Smithfield Foods
Location: Nationwide

GeoDecisions, Gannett Fleming’s geospatial and information technology division, implemented the Electronic Environmental Management System (E²MS) to take Smithfield Foods to the next level in Environmental Management System (EMS) organization, control, and ease of training. Its 10-year-old EMS supporting software was outdated, and the training of employees in use of the system consumed significant resources. The implementation has enabled Smithfield Foods to more efficiently monitor and track program progress and reduce its overall environmental footprint.

E²MS is a customized application that allows users to better manage data, documentation, audits, and corrective actions, in addition to assigning and tracking compliance tasks. The application also features a user-specific dashboard that can be tailored to the individual user.

Previously, Smithfield’s environmental software training programs would take nearly 40 hours to complete. Now, with E²MS, a good working knowledge can be obtained with only two hours of training, which can occur online instead of requiring days of classroom-style training. This significant time savings is critical in today’s business environment.

Like other manufacturers and packaged-food producers, one of Smithfield’s main priorities is to reduce production waste and decrease the environmental impact of operations. The application’s ease of use and built-in document management system has enabled more reliability and access for the company’s numerous platforms and facilities, as well as provides the tools necessary to monitor operations from a centralized tracking location – ensuring consistency throughout all U.S. operations.

E²MS’ fully customizable, Web-based application has benefited Smithfield Foods by improving the capability to meet compliance requirements, minimizing paperwork and facilitating document control, enhancing communication regarding environmental issues, increasing environmental awareness and involvement, and enhancing the ability to meet legal and other requirements.

Client: Confidential Food Processing Client
Location: Nationwide

Gannett Fleming was retained by one of the top five food processing companies in the United States to perform EMS/compliance audits of 97 operating facilities located throughout the country. These audits had to be completed in three months to meet commitments in an administrative consent order.

Our firm generated a regulatory compliance audit questionnaire for use across five subsidiaries defined as platforms. An internal team of 14 experienced auditors and certified lead auditors was organized to ensure that the audits were completed on this tight schedule.

Platform managers were assigned to manage the site audits per subsidiary and to communicate and coordinate activities with the client’s platform managers. The Gannett Fleming project manager acted as the single point of contact with the corporate environmental manager and legal counsel and participated in each exit interview for all 97 audits performed.

We completed all 97 EMS/compliance audits in 49 days. As a result, the client awarded our firm several additional projects to address deficiencies identified during the audits, such as the preparation of new or updated spill prevention control countermeasure and stormwater pollution prevention plans, air permits, and asbestos surveys within the audit timeframe.

Gannett Fleming entered the results of the audits into the client’s Web-based EMS database. The audits were uploaded, and associated findings and action items were populated for the purpose of tracking progress. Our firm also developed environmental metrics reports for the client’s corporate management use.

Client: Confidential Food Processing Client
Location: Nationwide

Gannett Fleming was retained to assist this client with generating a program to define its carbon footprint nationwide. Consulting services included developing a structured approach to report carbon dioxide emissions and defining the boundaries for which the company would initially develop its baseline emissions based on five years of historical data with the intent to report through the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).

Assessments were performed to define the locations where pertinent data was stored and the categories that were required to analyze emissions for its manufacturing operations. Spreadsheets were developed to organize the historical data for each source identified and calculated using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AP 42 factors to derive carbon dioxide emissions. The client chose to set boundaries around its manufacturing operations for its first report to the CDP since there was a challenge of deriving supply chain emissions from raw material suppliers. Programs were developed to derive more accurate data from fuel suppliers and raw material suppliers.