Page 36 - BusinessWest November 14, 2022

from $1 million to $1 billion in cost.
“Then we set the engineering — we have all
disciplines in house. We have civil engineers, architects, structural engineers ... we have every- thing to do with the building, but also all the internal engineers as well — mechanical engi- neers, chemical engineers, control engineers, electrical engineers, basically designing all the equipment inside.”
“A lot of it is about logistics, and where they can get to as many places in the U.S. as economically as possible.”
One reason for the Dennis Group’s sustained success — it has topped Engineering News Record’s annual rankings of the top food and bev- erage engineering firms by revenue in numerous years — is due to its ability to tackle new industry trends, which constantly drive the design and construction of new plants.
For example, Damiano said, “we’ve been doing a lot of vertical farming, which is kind of new — it’s like a warehouse with an indoor greenhouse.”
That has helped stores keep ever-popular bagged salads on shelves longer because they’re arriving in stores sooner, particularly in the Northeast, said Nathan Marcucci, a process engi- neer and head of the firm’s project management group.
“Bagged salads were always field harvested, and you had only a few days to get that salad from
the field to somebody’s house,” he explained. “Now, with an indoor vertical grow facility in the Northeast in the win- tertime, you can get that bagged salad to the con- sumer in the Northeast quicker, so it lasts longer. So it’s a combination of new technologies that invigorate some of these older products.”
The Dennis Group
has also worked with
the Impossible brand on alternative meats, ridden a wave of Greek yogurt and alternative milk pro- duction when those prod- ucts became popular, and worked with Ocean Spray on Craisins.
“That used to be a
byproduct; they used
to pay to have it hauled
Mike Damiano and Chris Siart say continual innovation in food trends drives robust away,” Damiano said.
production of manufacturing facilities.
“Then they turned it
into a product that was
a repeat client that has long focused on peanut
more profitable than the juice. The juice became
butter and jelly — and premade Uncrustables
a byproduct on the Craisins line. They basically
sandwiches — as well as a line of pet food. The
flipped the table.”
Dennis Group is currently working on its third
Much of the product innovation in super-
Smucker factory; a recently opened facility in Col- markets begins with smaller companies and gets
orado was named Food Engineering’s Plant of the
picked up by larger ones when products become
Year for 2020.
popular. Larger companies are often hesitant to
Sometimes inno-
Dennis
step out of their comfort zone, like J.M. Smucker,
Continued on page 45 vation in the way
Staff Photo
ARCHITECTURE PLANNING INTERIOR DESIGN
Mountain View School Easthampton MA
Photography: Leigh Chodos
521 East Street, Chicopee, MA 01020 413.594.2800 cbaarchitects.net
60 + YEARS RESPONDING TO CLIENT NEEDS
We believe that good architecture is a product of good communication.
36 NOVEMBER 14, 2022
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
BusinessWest