- Client
- Albertsons
- Location
- Phoenix
- Project Type
- Ice Cream & Dairy
The Assignment
Four Systems for an Operating Dairy
Albertsons needed to upgrade four infrastructure systems at its Phoenix ice cream plant: an air compressor, dairy processing equipment, the CIP system, and refrigeration. The work had to fit a single Sunday evening sanitation outage before the next production period.
DPS coordinated engineering, prefabrication, staging, installation, and the checks required to bring the separate scopes back into service together. The assignment linked the four packages with the existing ice cream lines, their utilities, hygienic valve arrangements, and the plant’s food-safety controls.
The Conditions Shaping the Work
- One tightly constrained Sunday evening sanitation window for the installation work.
- Air compressor, dairy processing equipment, CIP, and refrigeration scopes had to be installed in parallel.
- Dairy hygiene, product-safety controls, and environmental conditions had to be addressed at the existing production interfaces.
- The programme had to protect the scheduled Monday restart, with no allowance for a production-affecting overrun.
The Engineering Challenge
Fit the Work Into Sunday Sanitation
All four technical scopes needed access to the operating facility within the same planned interruption. Installation had to leave time for connections, environmental checks, integration testing, commissioning, and handback before Monday production. An overrun could affect the plant’s next scheduled manufacturing period.
The dairy environment made hygiene and product safety part of the integration plan. Air, refrigeration, CIP, and processing equipment perform different functions, but each affected readiness of the production environment. Their connections and work sequence therefore needed to be prepared together before the outage began.
The DPS Response
DPS coordinated the engineering, prefabrication, staging, and field execution of the air compressor, dairy processing equipment, CIP, and refrigeration scopes within one Sunday sanitation outage. Integration planning connected all four systems with the existing ice cream production lines, followed by environmental and system checks, commissioning, and production handback.
DPS Project Scope
- Air-compressor installation and service interfaces
- Dairy processing equipment integration
- CIP and refrigeration infrastructure coordination
- Engineering, prefabrication, and component staging
- Parallel installation during a planned sanitation outage
- Integrated testing, commissioning, and production handback
Explore the Engineering Scope
Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts
Connect mix preparation, cooling, ageing, freezing and CIP to sellable output and a defendable investment case.
Process Engineering & Design
Coordinate process diagrams, facility layouts, utility loads, hygienic requirements, controls specifications, and capital planning for food and beverage facilities.
Ice Cream Factory Planning: Match Production, Hardening and Cold Storage
Balance ice cream mix, freezing, hardening and cold storage; connect DPS vessels and integration services with a grounded four-system project lesson.
The Delivery Plan
Install in Parallel. Check as One.
Engineering planning coordinated the air-compressor installation, dairy-equipment interfaces, cleaning systems, and refrigeration infrastructure with the existing lines. Components were prefabricated and staged ahead of the work so the teams could install the four systems in parallel during the Sunday sanitation interval.
Real-time field coordination and contingency planning connected each installation activity with the shared restart requirement. The programme extended from equipment positioning and utility connections to the environmental and operating checks needed before production handback.
The original schedule marks Sunday 6PM as the start of the sanitation outage, 10PM for integration and testing, and 11PM for final commissioning. It then places production restart at Monday 6AM. Those are reported project milestones rather than a general installation-duration commitment. The work sequence brought the four scopes together through integrated checks before the facility returned to production.
Design · Build · Manage
Design
Coordinate the air compressor, dairy equipment, CIP, and refrigeration infrastructure in detail. Plan their integration with the existing ice cream lines, hygienic valve arrangements, environmental requirements, and food-safety controls before the outage.
Build
Prefabricate and stage the components for parallel installation of all four systems during the single Sunday sanitation window. Connect the prepared equipment and utility work with the existing production interfaces.
Manage
Use real-time field coordination and contingency planning to connect the installation sequence with testing, environmental and food-safety checks, commissioning, and the scheduled production handback. The reported outcome was a Monday restart without production time lost.
The Execution Sequence
Pre-Outage
Engineering & Staging
The air-compressor, dairy-equipment, CIP, and refrigeration scopes were coordinated, with components prefabricated and staged for the planned installation.
Sunday 6PM
Sanitation Outage Begins
The original schedule marks the start of the shared sanitation outage and the parallel installation of the four systems.
Sunday 10PM
Integration & Testing
The reported sequence moves to integrated system checks, environmental-control verification, and connections to the existing production lines.
Sunday 11PM
Final Commissioning
The original schedule identifies this as the final testing and validation milestone for the four installed systems.
Monday 6AM
Production Resumes
The project account reports all four systems operational and the ice cream plant returning to full-capacity production at the scheduled restart.
These clock labels reproduce milestones in the original project schedule; no calendar date is supplied. They describe four systems coordinated within one Sunday outage, followed by Monday production restart.
The Completion Milestone
The original completion status is the Monday-morning production restart after installation, integration, testing, and commissioning of all four systems. The case reports full-capacity operation and no minutes lost against that scheduled restart.
The Project Outcome
Ready for the Monday Restart
DPS reports installation of all four systems within the planned Sunday outage and a Monday-morning return to production. The original account describes the plant running at full capacity at the restart, with no production minutes lost against the scheduled return.
The four-system scope and the single outage are separate measures. The project narrative consistently describes four installed systems sharing one sanitation window, followed by one coordinated handback. The reported result concerns readiness after that planned interruption, with preparation, parallel field execution, testing, and commissioning all forming part of the same programme.
- Systems Installed
- 4
- Air compressor, dairy processing equipment, CIP, and refrigeration were coordinated within the same programme; these are systems, not four separate outages.
- Planned Outage
- One Sunday
- The four scopes shared a single Sunday evening sanitation window.
- Reported Production Restart
- Monday Morning
- The original schedule places production restart at Monday 6AM and describes all four systems as operational.
- Reported Production Time Lost
- 0 Minutes
- The original Impact Highlights report no loss against the scheduled production restart following the planned outage.
- The original project account reports the ice cream plant running at full capacity at the Monday restart after the planned sanitation outage.
- The four system scopes were prepared and installed in parallel, then brought together for a shared integration, commissioning, and handback sequence.
The Client Perspective
An Excerpt From the Original Published Project Account
Production resumed Monday morning without a single minute lost.
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