Project Spotlight

Cargill Soybean Preparation Unit

While working for 19 months on a design-build brownfield project designed to modernize a soybean processing facility for Cargill, Burns & McDonnell prioritizes safety and achieves zero recordables.


The oilseed processing arm of Cargill, a global food producer, needed to modernize an aging soybean processing facility in the Midwest. The design-build project consisted of the brownfield replacement of a decades-old soybean preparation unit at an existing Cargill soybean crush facility.

After evaluating multiple scope options with Cargill, our Food & Consumer Products team began a 19-month journey designing and constructing a four-story soybean preparation building within 5 yards of existing operating and occupied structures. During that time, soybean deliveries and processing continued 24/7 directly adjacent to the construction area.

The design-build team successfully completed multiple critical lifts, including the installation of a 250,000-pound rotary conditioner and five modularized conveyor bridges — one being 120-feet in length that spanned over the existing prep building — despite having only inches of clearance around existing equipment and structures. Most importantly, the job was finished with more than 150,000 hours of construction completed with zero recordables.

This is one of several successful design-build expansion/replacement projects our Food & Consumer Products team has completed for clients in the food preparation and processing category.


Project Stats


Client

Cargill

Location

Cedar Rapids, Iowa