| Client: | Amity Packing Co. |
| Industry: | Food Manufacturing |
| Services: | Protein product packing company |
| Location: | Chicago, IL |
The Client
For 55 years, Amity Packing Co. has been professionally and expertly meeting all its customers’ beef, pork and poultry needs. Today, the company is a world class provider of protein products and one of the premier privately owned leaders in the meat industry, specializing in custom processing for national and global customers.
From its 175,000sq.ft facility in Chicago, IL (which it moved to in 2013 after rapid expansion), Amity Packing Co. and its 400 plus employees serve over 30 countries globally. The company has continued to grow exponentially, and in recent years has added solid muscle beef and poultry production, contract manufacturing and raw, ready to cook (RTC) and ready to eat (RTE) production to its impressive portfolio.
Of course, when such a distinguished company asked us to create a tailormade solution to meet increased demand for its products, we were delighted to take up the challenge!
The Challenge
Amity’s team needed several heavy duty racks, complete with strong, sturdy wire shelves that could easily cope with holding and transporting heavy loads of meat products around its huge processing facility.
Each rack level could potentially hold up to 20 lbs of ground beef or sausages on each level, so we knew that the racks we designed needed to be built to perform and endure at the very top level. The casters on the racks also needed to be top drawer, to enable their smooth and safe maneuvering around Amity’s plant.
Luckily, at Schaumburg Specialties we have some of the best designers and metal fabricators in the businesses and we use only top grade American materials to build our racks – so we were perfectly placed to meet our client’s unique requirements.
Our Solution
In consultation with Amity’s team, our experts put their heads together to produce a perfect tailormade solution for our client.
We built 45 heavy duty meat processing racks, double welded with reinforced 48” x 48” shelves and reinforced bases for added strength and durability. All the tube ends on our racks are welded closed, to prevent any water and bacteria build up and help keep our customer’s facility fully compliant with stringent food safety standards.
The racks featured reinforced bases
In addition, the slides of the rack were welded with upturned ends, to prevent any sheet pans sliding off and causing potential product wastage or employee safety issues.
The slides had upturned ends
Part way through the project and after receiving a prototype that they’d tried out on their production line, Amity’s team asked for some reinforcement modifications to the racks’ wire shelves. At Schaumburg Specialties, we take a consultative approach and we’re always happy to carry out any modifications our clients request, even if it is mid project!
Each shelf we built had to be able to withstand up to 20 lbs of bulky and heavy meat products, so it needed reinforcements at the top and the bottom, as well as a bar running through the middle for added strength and durability and to stop any bowing.
The reinforced shelves
Due to the heavy nature of the racks, we had to ensure they were easy for Amity’s employees to move around its facility. Our design engineers are experts in rack physics and gave the racks six heavy duty casters with large 8” wheels and designed them so that the center wheel on each side sat slightly lower than the others, making rack maneuvering smooth and simple.
The racks had six wheels, three on each side
A split pin was also added to the axle of the racks’ casters to grant access for quick and easy caster changes. Another ingenious design feature from our team!
A split pin was added to the axle
Sturdy handles also contributed to making the racks effortlessly mobile and helped prevent any potential safety issues for Amity’s employees.
Sturdy handles
Once the racks were ready, we shipped them immediately to Amity’s premises where they started work straight away on its production line.
The racks in situ at Amity’s plant
We soon had feedback from our client that they were delighted with the performance of the new racks and that they were helping to markedly increase the capacity and efficiency of its operations and meet increased demand for its meat products.
All in a day’s work for Schaumburg Specialties!
Bring Your Custom Build Ideas To Life With Schaumburg Specialties
We delivered awesome results for this customer, and now we want to do the same for you. To bring your design ideas to life and get started with your own custom build project that’s tailormade for your business, contact us today!