Capacity Expansion Projects Take Shape at DuPont Nutrition & Health Sites in Germany & France
The official ground-breaking ceremony for a new deep-freeze warehouse took place recently at the site of the DuPont Nutrition & Health (Danisco Deutschland GmbH) in Niebüll, Germany. The new storage center is part of a joint project, which reflects the co-operative efforts of the sites of Epernon, France and Niebüll, Germany to secure additional capacity in cultures ensuring that we maintain our recognized reputation for excellent stability and performance by leading yogurt, fresh fermented and cheese industry customers around the world.
Synergies will be generated by enlarging storage capacity in Niebüll and by the leverage of existing fermentation capacity from the Epernon facility. The storage expansion in Niebüll will be built on top of the current logistics building. DuPont expects the construction work to be completed in Niebüll in the fourth quarter of 2018 and that the 12-meter-high building will be put into operation later this year.
“The investment of around 7 million Euros ($8.6 million) forms part of the previously announced $60 million expansion plan for European cultures plants. We count on a combination of local planners and regional specialist companies to realize this important plant extension, building upon the overall logistics of the plant”, says Reinhold Sand, site manager Danisco Deutschland GmbH.
The new deep-freeze warehouse will be run with a temperature of minus 55 degrees centigrade.
“The cold storage cell will be equipped with a new, very energy efficient insulating panel and due to this, the new cooling system will on average run significantly less per day, which reduces energy use”, explains Michael Paulsen, plant manager Danisco Deutschland GmbH.
Furthermore, a heat recovery system will be integrated into the refrigeration technology.
Michael Paulsen adds, “In the new storage there will be ports with different temperature zones as well as a semi-automated transport system to load and unload a freight elevator, that ensures the material transport from the ground to the upper floor”.
A two-story building with 300 square meters of floor space at each level will be in front of the new deep-freeze warehouse. The building will include logistics, building technology, office work places, switch rooms as well as social rooms for the employees working at the logistic center.
