A Young-based grain storage and handling company has just finished a major upgrade of Malteurop Australia’s malting plant at Geelong.
The upgrade increased the annual capacity of the plant from 80,000 to 200,000 tonnes, making the malting site the largest in Australia and the France-based Malteurop Groupe’s third largest globally.
The extension was a response to growing demand for beer in Asia which now accounts for one third of the world’s beer market and will strengthen Malteurop’s position in the region.
“This will give Asian brewers greater opportunity to source their malt out of the Australian market,” Trevor Perryman, managing director of Malteurop Australia, said.
Allied Grain Systems (AGS) at Young was awarded the contract in October, 2016, to work alongside Malteurop to complete the storage upgrade over an 18-month period.
The existing Malteurop malting plant was kept running around the clock during the upgrade which required extensive planning and co-ordination on all sides.
AGS designed and constructed the foundations for 17 silos – a driven pile design to a depth of more than 12 metres to overcome poor soil conditions.
The company constructed six 1000-tonne clean barley storage silos, five 1000-tonne malt barley storage silos and four 500-tonne analysis silos.
Each AGS silo was commercial quality heavy duty and each designed to comply with all Australian standards.
Back at the factory in Young, AGS designed and built all the associated structural steel work for the over-silo walkways, support towers and access stairs.
Malteurop also contracted AGS to install the major mechanical conveyors for the plant. These included bucket elevators, drag chain conveyors, belt conveyors and associated valve and control items.
AGS worked with Malteurop to commission the new plant and equipment which started up in stages over a six-month period as each new part of the plant was completed.
“The major upgrade of our Geelong site symbolised two of Malteurop’s core values, in ‘acting together’ and ‘working for the long term’,” Olivier Parent, CEO of Malteurop Groupe, said.
Safety was the number one priority with the project completed without a minute of lost time from a safety incident.
AGS senior construction manager, Paul Wowk, was awarded a certificate of appreciation from Malteurop’s head office in France which recognised his valuable safety contributions and quick thinking at the Geelong site.
- For more information on AGS products and services ring 1800 689 433 or visit www.alliedgrainsystems.com.au.