AVEKA continues to grow with plant expansion at its Waukon facility
What it will look like when finished ... A conceptual image of what the AVEKA Nutra Processing facility addition in Waukon will look like when it’s finished. The expansion project is expected to be completed by July 1 of this year. Submitted photo.
Work continues ... Work continued to progress on the new expansion project at the AVEKA Nutra Procession facility in Waukon late last week as the month of April came to an end. Standard photo by Joe Moses.
Setting it in place ... The dryer bottom being set in place in the new AVEKA plant expansion in Waukon April 23. Submitted photo.
Early stages ... The expansion project at the AVEKA plant in Waukon has been underway since initially breaking ground last November. Pictured above is a scene from early March shortly after the building phase got underway. Standard photo by Joe Moses.
AVEKA Group, Inc., a contract manufacturing and research and development company based out of Woodbury, MN, has recently started construction on a large-scale expansion to its AVEKA Nutra Processing (ANP) facility in Waukon. Originally started in 2011, the Waukon plant specializes in processing food, beverage and nutraceutical products for AVEKA’s wide range of clients.
Five facilities and over 25 years of operation after its initial inception, AVEKA was again feeling the strain of increased demand for its specialty milling, drying, blending and classifying services. One particular service that was seeing an especially high area of growth was large scale spray drying. Having nearly reached its maximum spray drying capacity, the company knew it needed to continue to expand its production capacity - and that meant expanding one of its facilities as well.
After a lengthy search process, a used commercial spray dryer constructed by Dahmes Stainless, Inc. (DSI) was found in excellent condition in Kentucky. This dryer was then brought to Waukon, joining the two other tower dryers currently in use at the ANP facility.
In order to properly house the large new dryer, as well as additional equipment and material storage, a multi-million dollar, multi-stage expansion to the Waukon facility would be required. DSI was hired to oversee the construction of the entire project, as well as the installation of the spray dryer itself, due to the company’s extensive knowledge of their first-party systems.
The scope of work on the project includes:
• A 30’ x 35’ addition to the main plant, featuring a 75-foot tall, multi-level dryer tower section;
• Construction of a one-story, 15’ x 50’ liquid processing area;
• A 60’ x 100’ warehouse space;
• Two new 25,000-gallon liquid storage silos;
• Installation of the DSI spray dryer.
Construction crews initially broke ground on the project November 1 of 2019. Barring any setbacks, the expected completion date is July 1 of this year.
Once complete, the new expansion will increase ANP’s drying capacity by over 25%, adding 1,500 pounds per hour of capacity. It will also greatly expand the plant’s food grade liquid processing capabilities, opening the door to a much larger variety of food grade products and new clients.
In addition, this expansion also means that AVEKA will be able to bring on a potential of six new team members. Spray dryer operators and other support staff will be required to oversee the new production around the clock, as is typical of all AVEKA operations.
