Vitalus

Facing compelling business drivers, Vitalus selected Hixson to expand its existing facility in Western Canada. One primary goal was to significantly increase processing capacity, growing from 130 million liters to 565 million liters of milk received from two Canadian provinces over a six-year ramp up. The project was also designed to allow the client to focus on core products – milk protein concentrate and milk protein isolate. In addition, the expansion enables Vitalus to extract more value from the protein component of milk, expand butter-making capacity, and enhance buttermilk drying and purification of milk permeate.

Sitting side-by-side with the current facility and warehouse, the new greenfield expansion addresses these business drivers in several ways. For example, current operations are being integrated into the expansion site to allow for growth. New state-of-the-art production equipment and processes are being incorporated alongside older re-purposed equipment. Warehouse upgrades are being made to improve the powder, refrigerated, and frozen storage of finished products. The project also provides considerations for movement of materials between the new facility, existing facility, and warehouse.