Tag Archives: Michigan Milk Producers

Enclosures Protecting Standby Power Generating Stations At Michigan Milk Producers Association

Hennig custom enclosures on generators provided through W.W. Williams to huge dairy products processing plant in Michigan.

Machesney Park, IL-On a recent installation at the Ovid, Michigan processing plant of the Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA), the standby power generation system supplier, W.W. Williams (WWW) of Dearborn, Michigan, required an increased level of sound and environmental protection on the three generating stations, in accordance with the specs received from their customer’s architectural firm.  They turned to their enclosure suppliers for assistance, as the challenges were many.  For the complete package, the project was awarded to Hennig.  As WWW’s Brunswick, Ohio-based project manager on the job, Al LaManna, puts it, “We’d begun to see Hennig as our go-to guys on enclosures, owing to the continued satisfaction we’d experienced with their levels of quality, engineering and especially responsive service.”

The Ovid facility of MMPA processes over three million pounds of milk per day, specializing in the production of liquid dairy blends, dry powders and bulk butter.  These dairy ingredients are offered in spray-dried, liquid, condensed and instantized forms.  Fluid products are typically loaded for bulk tanker or 55-gallon drum delivery, while powders are packed in 50 lb. bags, 25 kg bags or one-ton totes.  Butter is produced in 25 kg cubes.  Such production processes place substantial load on the local utility company’s power generation system and also create ambient dust contaminant challenges for the plant’s equipment.

During the construction process on the three enclosures needed for the standby power generators, extra attention was given to the insulation, silencers and electrical controls for the unit, to ensure proper functioning, sound attenuation and minimized environmental impact.  These enclosures and fuel tank assemblies further required additional features, as mandated by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, including overflow protection valves with a spill box for fuel containment on the remote filling apparatus, fill panel alarm system with level switch, extended vents above the roof line, a special mastic coating on the bottom of the fuel tank and stainless steel fuel supply and return lines.

Following the submission of the complete specification and winning the job, Hennig engineers Christian Grobe and Robin Moore, as well as sales rep Matt Sopchyk, led the team that produced the enclosures at the company’s manufacturing/fabricating facility in Rockford, Illinois.  Al LaManna had occasion to visit the plant during the construction and was impressed by the efficiency of the vertical integration.  Hennig performs all metal fabrication, finishing and the rigorous testing to UL standards in-house.  “Even a midstream specification change by our customer was handled at Hennig with no upset in the production schedule,” notes LaManna.

Founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1912, W.W. Williams has evolved from one of the nation’s largest industrial distribution, repair and service companies to a highly diversified solutions provider.  They provide solutions to customers with technical / mechanical service and repair, remanufacturing, warehouse / supply chain management and service a varied customer base. Their products and services include diesel engines, transmissions, heavy duty truck repair, refrigeration, power generation and third party supply chain logistics services. Their customers comprise on-highway trucking, off-highway equipment, Department of Defense OEM’s, vehicle OEM’s, U.S. Military and marine enterprises.  The company represents the MTU Onsite Energy group and specializes in gas and diesel engine systems, fuel cell systems, gas turbine systems and gen-drive engines, to provide primary, standby and continuous power.

As Territory Manager for the company, Todd James Rundhaug, observes, “We are constantly looking for quality component suppliers to complement our MTU Onsite Energy power generating equipment.  We began our relationship with Hennig in 2008 and have been extremely satisfied with the quality, workmanship, delivery and especially the after-sales sales support on their enclosures and fuel tanks.  Due to a variety of factors, our types of equipment require highly specialized enclosures and UL Rated fuel tanks.  The total service package from Hennig on these products has been excellent.”  LaManna agrees, noting his customers’ repeat satisfaction with the full package supplied by Hennig.  On this Michigan Milk Producers job, Hennig supplied the enclosures, each equipped with a heater, overhead lights, powered louvers, battery back-up lighting with NiCad battery power and GFI wall outlets.

Point man on the job for Hennig Enclosure Systems was Matt Sopchyk, who noted there were three enclosures needed for the onsite generators on this project.  Each generator is a 2000 KW unit, with a sub-base fuel tank holding 3480 gallons of diesel.  “Hennig design standards for this application included our complete in-house powder coating process for the enclosure walls, doors and roof sections over the all galvanealled steel construction. This job was finished in MTU gray, matching their gensets.”

The UL142 approved steel fuel tanks are finished with a phosphoric pretreatment high-pressure wash and then a 2-step polyurethane process. Hennig enclosures are of a semi-monocoque design, meaning the structural integrity and inner strength are engineered and built into every panel and roof section. This allows for clean and functional design, without the need for separate framing or additional substrate supports of any kind.  Also, the Hennig fuel tanks are engineered and built in a similar way, with full interior baffling and sub-structure integrity to support the genset without the need for surface mounted I-beams to support the genset or the need for an additional, costly raised floor above the tank top. The tank top is the floor within the genset.

To learn more about Hennig products & services, visit www.hennigworldwide.com or call contact:

Tim Waterman
Hennig Inc.
9900 N. Alpine Rd.
Machesney Park, IL 61115
(815) 316-5277
info@hennig.ame.com
www.hennigworldwide.com

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Hennig, Inc., at www.hennigworldwide.com, has been designing and producing custom machine protection and chip/coolant management products for state-of-the-art machine tools for over 50 years. Hennig products are designed to protect against corrosion, debris and common workplace contaminants. Hennig has manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Germany, Czech Republic, France, Brazil, India, Japan, China and South Korea. Its North American repair centers are located in Machesney Park, Ill.; Chandler, Okla.; Livonia, Mich.; Blue Ash, Ohio; Mexico City, Mexico; and Saltillo, Mexico.