Don’t Trip Up On The Steps When Building Your Manufacturing Facility

by | Oct 27, 2015 | Ice Cream Consulting

More times than not I receive a call from an individual asking if something is really necessary for their new facility and oh by the way, the lease and some contractor agreements are signed and was told by an inspector I need to do “X”. The infamous “X.”

It is a single letter that in some instances can represent thousands of additional dollars or maybe a time extension of three-plus months. An individual can read on the internet the “How To’s” to building a manufacturing facility, but is it a suitable replacement for experience and reality in the actually build?

Remember one of my tags “Nowadays you can’t afford to learn from your own mistakes.” Did you notice the letter “s” on the end of mistake? Again, a very important letter, because more than one mishap will occur in the process; but it can be avoided by aligning yourself with a professional in the trade. Hiring a contractor or consultant to assist in the project, does not mean that you are disengaged in it or unable to look over their shoulder.

If you hire the right fit and experienced company, they will follow your wish list of tasks and more importantly point out other items that are required to complete the project. The unknowns are where first-timers can find themselves in a bind and costly situation. A common example of this: you are building a manufacturing or “clean space” and towards the end of the project you discover that you are required to have a floor drain.

Oops, that alone could cost you an additional 30-60 days and possibly $15,000. So what do you do? Make your wish list and align yourself with a professional organization that has experience in building the kind of business and facility you are building. We will walk you through the necessary steps of the process and in proper order.

Let’s look at some of the steps in the process of building an ice cream and what I consider in descending order of importance when building a ice cream, gelato or non dairy frozen manufacturing facility:

    • What are you manufacturing: After deciding on what to produce, determine the package, case size, the initial target customer and what is forecasted for production over the next few years.
    • Space square footage and required utilities: Rather than looking at initial needs of the space, understand it’s expansion capability over the next few year. Of course the location will include water, sewer, electric and possibly natural gas, but will it be adequate to support equipment requirements and overall facility operation.
    • Will the inspection arm of the facility be state or federal: Depending your choice of a freeze and flavor or pasteurizing facility will determine if your inspector will be a city or county health inspector or the Dept. of Agriculture. The two follow a separate set of rules and guidelines.
    • Lease or purchase: This depends on available capital and long term business strategy. Either is acceptable and should not deter your overall business decisions.
    • Purchasing: Make sure the building is properly zoned commercial or multi purpose. If the building is located and part of an association, then understand the covenants and restrictions for business type or construction restraints.
    • Leasing: Be crystal clear on the terms, requirements and restrictions regarding business type and construction restraints.
    • Manual, semi-automatic or fully automated equipment: This is directly related to knowing your customer, container size and annual projected volume. There are also tradeoffs to weigh in on when determining automation including; amount of employees, product consistency and plant cost.
    • Required equipment: This will be determined by the previous decision, container size and projected annual volume. Once understanding the required equipment, then know the plus and minus when considering new and used, purchasing directly from a manufacturer or through a distributor and last, if better to lease or purchase.
    • Utility requirements: Is the existing power service adequate for current and future needs, is the building connected to a septic system or city sewer, is a floor drain and or grease trap necessary, is the water supplied by the city or well. Factors to consider to address facility, equipment, city or state licensing requirements.
    • The contractor: Do you know just enough to be dangerous to manage construction or is it more cost effective to hire a general contractor. Is it in your better interest to engage services of each supplier in electrical, plumbing and construction, or does it make more sense for all services to be contracted with one company and one contractor.
    • When to sign an agreements and in what order: Know the best order when signing agreements for space, electrical, plumbing, equipment, construction and permits. Some contracts may take longer to get started than others.
    • The inspectors: Once the inspecting authority for manufacturing is determined and the application is submitted, it will trigger the process of seeing a visit from the inspector at the beginning, during the process and completion of the project. The inspector is one of the deciding factors in final approval in order to secure a license to operate. And not to be confused with the inspectors that only oversee the construction process.

Understanding the “To Do” tasks in order of rank and importance can save you time and additional expense in building your ice cream manufacturing facility. The tasks listed here represent an overview and do not include any details that may arise during the building process in an “unforeseen” or added amenity. 

Hiring Darryl’s Ice Cream Solutions is a good first step to get the job done correctly, while allowing you to focus on other tasks of the operation. Saving you time and added costs is one part, making smart decisions is a big piece to achieving an overall business success.

Darryl David
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