FORT MORGAN, Colo.—With over 100 years in Fort Morgan, The Western Sugar Cooperative has a long history with the community. And the facility is still growing and improving. Just two years ago Western Sugar began planning a multi-year project at its Fort Morgan and Scottsbluff, Neb., facilities, which internally they have called the High Plains Project. As most Fort Morgan residents know, the construction phase of the High Plains Project started last spring. You would likely have to be a newcomer to the area not to have noticed all of the activity taking place at the facility over the past year.
We have heard from many in the community wanting to know more about the work being done at their neighbor's facility and when it will be finished. In this article Western Sugar opens up about the improvements at its Fort Morgan operations and addresses some of the complaints it has received from citizens in Fort Morgan.
Western Sugar's President and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney Perry describes the goal of the High Plains Project as, "We wanted to invest in our facilities in order to produce more sugar from the same amount of sugarbeets, while using less energy, reducing freight and lowering our overall factory operating costs." The High Plains project included installing new equipment at both the Fort Morgan and Scottsbluff facilities; such as dry beet handling systems to replace the old wet hopper beet delivery systems in Scottsbluff and in Fort Morgan in the future, new drum slicers and knife sharpening, extending the tower diffusers, new beet pulp presses, new thick juice tanks, replacement or additions to filters, and continuous vacuum pans.
While the majority work on the project was completed before the start of the 2016-2017 campaign, you may have heard whispers of the challenges Western Sugar faced throughout their High Plains Project. These challenges meant the project took longer than planned and at a cost more than originally expected. One unexpected problem included locating enough contractors in the area with the appropriate skills for the project. As the cooperative began construction and the existing structures were exposed for retrofitting, there was also more unexpected investment needed to support the new and existing equipment. There were equipment failures of both old and new equipment and employees have had to find their way in operating the integrated systems between the old and new. "Despite the challenges of the High Plains Project, we do expect to operate much better this upcoming campaign allowing us to start receiving the benefits from the project for our growers," says Rodney Perry.
With the wrap up of the facility's beet processing campaign in late March and after many months of dedicated work from a lot of Western Sugar employees and contractors, the Fort Morgan facility has completed the largest portion of the High Plains Project. The remaining parts of the project will be completed over the next several years.
Source: www.fortmorgantimes.com