New London, N.H. (main office), and Marietta, Ga. (southeast office)

The Stahlman Group Inc. (SGI) is a nationally recognized full-service construction engineering firm specializing in the food and beverage industry. SGI services include in-house design, project management, construction management and turnkey construction. In-house design disciplines include site, structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical, process and refrigeration. Services also include feasibility and distribution studies, master planning, materials handling, inspection, construction administration and turnkey construction.

Include Ben & Jerry’s, Stonyfield Farm, Garelick Farms, Guida-Seibert Dairy Co. and Dean Foods Co.

Trying to achieve more for its clients with less is a scenario that Stahlman Group Inc. manages every day. Older equipment and infrastructures may operate adequately, but continued investment into these items brings the question, “Which would be more efficient — building or buying new?”

Leprino Foods, Stonyfield Farm, Guida-Seibert Dairy Co. and Garelick Farms all endured projects last year that required the installation of new additions in tight, heavily congested areas. With imaginative design techniques and proper preliminary planning, all projects were completed without operational difficulties for the owners. Stahlman Group’s ability to think “outside the box” allows for the implementation of these projects in a manner that meets the client’s needs.

An example of this was employed at Leprino Foods’ Waverly, N.Y., plant. The owner required clean, sanitary surfaces inside the space, so Stahlman Group designed the building with the structural frame on the outside so the inside walls would be smooth. The structural frame on the outside of the building ultimately provided an aesthetic element that broke up the 85-foot-high building.

Coordinating with the equipment vendors for this project was paramount in assuring the project’s success. Some equipment was actually being constructed and installed while the building was being built. In order for this sequencing to occur, the actual design of the building had to incorporate design elements to allow the equipment to be phased in a methodical fashion.

The ability to ask the right questions during the preliminary phase, and having the foresight to envision the project’s progression before it even hit paper, are the reasons this innovative project was a success.

Jacksonville, Fla. (corporate headquarters); Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas/Fort Worth; Fresno, Calif.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Hartford, Conn.; Houston; Jackson, Miss.; Los Angeles; Memphis, Tenn.; Miami; Modesto, Calif.; Newport News, Va.; San Francisco; Savannah, Ga.; Tampa, Fla.; and Tracy, Calif.

Architecture/engineering, construction; mechanical services: industrial refrigeration, parts and service, power and utilities, thermal services, controls and instrumentation; supplemental services: real estate, site evaluation, selection, acquisition; business plans.

Confidential.

The Stellar Group is dedicated to serving the food industry. The demand for food processors and manufacturers to produce high-quality, safe and nutritious products begins at the development stage in designing a processing plant. This effort requires specific knowledge to meet current codes and having the foresight for the future. Stellar understands food processing requirements and is recognized as a leader in the industry. Stellar has designed and built many processing facilities throughout the Western Hemisphere.

In addition to designing, planning, constructing and offering refrigeration services, Stellar provides food processors with supplementary services that are designed to reduce pathogens and improve employee safety without losing sight that the facility must remain productive and efficient. These include product studies, optimal layout (process flows), latest code searches (building, USDA, FDA), power and utilities, sanitation studies, material handling, automation and packaging, safety compliance programs and ergonomic studies.

The Stellar Group has experience in processing farm gate milk into packaged fluid milk, cream products, yogurt; and processing milk into other dairy products such as butter, ice cream, cheese and milk powders. There are three main organizational structures in the dairy processing industry and Stellar has provided services at every level: producer-owned cooperatives, diversified food and consumer product manufacturers, and the largest processors/multi-plant firms that offer a full range of product lines.

These plants are designed to reduce the labor and overhead in order to eliminate any variables that affect product quality and safety. Because most of the products are carried through extensive piping and vat storage systems until processed into final packaging, a great deal of energy goes into the design, fabrication and installation of the mechanical systems.

Kansas City, Mo. (U.S. office)

Our fully automated Realcold blast chill or freeze tunnels are designed for cartons of dairy products, including yogurt, cheese, ice cream or other
further processed dairy foods that require conditioning before shipment or cold storage.

More than 50.

Realcold’s simple proven technology, with more than 50 clients, is a most effective method to automate, comparable to manual blast cells.

Delivery systems include construction management, design-build and general contracting. Field services include concrete forming and placement, rough carpentry and finish work, equipment setting and installation, low-temp installations, steel erection, doors and hardware. Core competencies include dairy/food processing, warehouse and distribution, manufacturing, commercial, industrial, government, health care, institutional, educational and redevelopment.

Big-D Construction was founded in 1967.  Today, we employ more than 300 associates in 11 states, and provide a full range of design-build and construction management services to the commercial, dairy/food and health care industries.  Our portfolio is complex, inspiring and vast, yet our process remains as simple as silence: We start by listening.  

For nearly four decades, we have sculpted and refined our expertise in crafting structures as enduring as the relationships we build beneath them. Our job is to uphold this tradition of excellence, blend history with innovation and deliver exceptional results. Whether your project is large or small, we’re ready to give you the kind of service that has made Big-D one of the top construction companies in the nation.

Sysco, Dean Foods, Davisco Foods, Malt-O-Meal, Slim-Fast, Associated Foods, Dannon, Santee Dairies, Gossner Foods, Leprino Foods and Lofthouse.

In 2003, Big-D completed construction of the world’s largest mozzarella plant. The 750,000-square-foot plant, located in Lemoore, Calif., is designed to receive and process 6 million pounds of Grade A milk per day into approximately 600,000 pounds of mozzarella cheese and value-added whey products.

In May, Big-D broke ground on a 120,000-square-foot freezer project in Ogden, Utah. This unique construction recipe called for a wealth of revolutionary vapor barrier details, and was the first Thermomass® freezer constructed in Utah. Combining next-generation technology and outstanding leadership, Big-D was able to sweeten this deal in the areas of cost-control, scheduling, quality control and true-value engineering processes.