General Mills

DIVISIONS

Buffalo Construction & Technical Services Group

PROJECT MANAGERS

Michael Janowski, Buffalo Construction Mike McIntyre, Technical Services Group

GENERAL FOREMEN

Dave Peters, LU 41 Wayne Rich, LU 41

This project was estimated to take three months, however was completed in a month, including a four day shutdown that required over 2,000 hours with zero incidents.

"I couldn’t be more proud of all the men and women that worked on this project. In the end, General Mills was extremely happy with the job and it looked fantastic as well," said Michael Janowski, Project Manager for Buffalo Construction.

Originally, the General Mills equipment was 60 years old and in need of upgrades to maintain their production levels. The conduits for the old feeders were laid underground and prone to freezing, which caused issues for the plant. The engineers decided instead of trying to install new conduit underground, the best and cheapest option was to recreate the system above ground. They used large boom lifts and a lull, along with the team’s muscle, to haul the 750 and 500MCM cables. A large crane was used to remove the old switch gear and to install the new electrical house along with the 2600kV transformer.

This job was not easy, and we succeeded in finishing on time and have worked our way to be the preferred contractor for General Mills. Once again I want to thank all the men and women that worked on this project. -Michael Janowski