FDBusiness.com

Whilst industries are still pondering their next move, the food industry in both Ireland and the UK is busy addressing the challenges posed by BREXIT and other factors such as overall lifecycle costs.

The emerging trend in food engineering is towards brownfield expansions and upgrades. Brownfields can be hugely beneficial as manufacturers look to get more from their existing locations saving significant costs on new development and relocation.

According to Oisin O’Sullivan of food engineering specialists, PM Group: “What we are seeing across the Industry is a renewed energy with clients asking us to look at innovative ways to maximise existing facilities to cater to expansion as well as new product manufacturing.”

“Brownfield projects have their own specific challenges: business continuity, product quality and safety. Essentially, they require a lean and cost effective engineering approach. This is essential at a time when the industry is responding to the ever present pressure of better quality at lower cost,” he says.

All clients target value for money, quality and want to optimise costs, from initial projects investment through to overall lifecycle costs. To support this, the Industry is increasingly adopting solutions such as Business Information Modelling (BIM). BIM provides an efficient way of delivering accurate, co-ordinated and clash resolved information throughout the project lifecycle.  Whole Lifecycle BIM requires all project stakeholders from the client, the design team and contractors to the facilities management team to collaborate and share information throughout the process.

BIM is now able to extend benefits beyond the project as the central repository/digital library of project data and technical information is immediately available for the ongoing management of the facility throughout its whole lifecycle.

Oisin O’Sullivan is PM Group’s Food Sector Business Development Manager for the UK and Ireland.

For further information visit www.pmgroup-global.com.