Full steam ahead – NCMC Steam Repair and Relocation project update

As part of a four-stage project, the Northern Co-operative Meat Company (NCMC) has contracted Wiley to assist with upgrades at their Casino facility. Located in New South Wales’ acclaimed Northern Rivers, this region is one of the clean, green food bowls of Australia.

Barry Murphy-circle

Senior Project Manager, Barry Murphy is responsible for the delivery of the majority of the current works for NCMC and shares some details on where the steam repair and relocation project is at.

“On Sunday (13th December), we commissioned works to enable steam to be delivered via the new services gantry to the new Knocking Box and other items of the plant. Previously, these services were delivered via the old gantry which must be demolished as part of the overall upgrade.”

NCMC steam pipes

“Although, this is the smallest of the four contracts we are currently delivering at NCMC, the delivery is integral to the success of other works being carried out and had more than its share of challenges.” Said Barry.

“During the design process it was found that the existing structures at NCMC were incapable of supporting the loads identified during the steam design process which necessitated a substantial amount of creative design and provision of support structures within operating areas of the facility.”

“On-site access is limited due to working within an operating facility and an uninterrupted production output is a key deliverable of the project for the Client. Therefore, our solution involved working to a schedule outside of the usual operating hours, sometimes through the night. There is still substantial work to do at the site and no less challenging, but Sunday’s milestone was a significant day in the successful delivery of this project.”

“Along with the Wiley team, tremendous credit goes to key suppliers, Canelands Engineering (Structural Steel) and Piping Solutions (Steam Pipework), for their contribution towards achieving this goal. Also, I extend my highest regards to the NCMC team, who have worked alongside us day and night providing every assistance possible to ensure we deliver a quality result everyone involved can be proud of.”

 Piping Solutions - logoCaneland Engineering - logo

“To all, I would like to say “well done” and “thank you” on behalf of the team.” Barry said.

With three other projects in progress at NCMC currently Wiley is a familiar face at the Casino facility.

“A lot of the works are now completed on the knocking box project, with the building for the Beef side of the process almost finished. The equipment is being fitted offsite and will be commissioned early January next year. This week has seen another milestone successfully completed with the first trial run of stock through the redirected veal race.”

“Early works on the cold chain management system project are also nearing completion with building platforms currently being constructed and the tannery project is two thirds complete.”

“We look forward to continuing our work with NCMC on all four projects, which will take approximately one year to complete.” Barry concluded.

The significant investment NCMC has committed to across their Casino site will improve working conditions for their highly valued staff, as well as providing an international standard of animal welfare. All the designs being delivered are future considered and will allow NCMC to expand and modify their operations to allow their producer shareholders to service all major global markets as they grow their business well into the future.

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