Volume 36, June 1999: Plant Profile: Oscar Mayer

Perspectives
A Quarterly Information Source from Benchmark, Inc.
Volume 36 June 1999

Plant Profile: Oscar Mayer

by Michael Newland

The Oscar Mayer facility in Madison, Wisconsin has 134 different roof sections covering 598,000 square feet of roof area. Interior operations below the roofs include freezers, shipping coolers, high-humidity production areas, and ambient environments. The roof types consist of SBS and APP modified bitumen, built-up, EPDM and metal. The roofs vary from one to 49 years old, with the average age being around 10 years.

Oscar Mayer's Madison facility

The facility has a committed approach to proactive roof management, going so far as to dedicating one of their talented mechanics, Mike Strangstalien, as their roofing consultant. Mike has taken "ownership" of the roofs, which in turn has led to longer service life for many of the older roof systems. In addition, facility maintenance and engineering realized that a planned and managed approach to reroofing and repairs would not only provide longer service lives, but ultimately lower replacement and repair costs and give them the ability to forecast and accurately plan for these expenditures.

From the initial roof inspection in 1993, through the ongoing annual reinspections, Oscar Mayer has initiated a planned reroofing and repair program that prioritizes the plant roofs so that the roof areas with the greatest need receive attention and funding first. Due to the plant's proactive approach to managing their roof assets, they have averaged less than $200,000 per year in roof replacements. A greater priority has been devoted to repair costs that help extend the service life of many roof systems.

When a roof replacement is required, Oscar Mayer employs Benchmark to prepare the specification and bid documents. Several roof areas were replaced in 1998. The concise specifications for these projects allowed for competitive bids from contractors that came in on budget.

Quality control standards could not be sacrificed for any reason. Oscar Mayer felt onsite construction monitoring and project management were crucial and thus decided to involve Benchmark in the construction process. We were able to coordinate our efforts with Oscar Mayer personnel and the roofing contractor to ensure that plant activities beneath the roof were not interrupted.

While the operations beneath the roof areas were not directly related to the production of product, they were related to shipping, receiving and recycling efforts. Since the project involved deck replacement, care and coordination were crucial in order to not disrupt the ongoing activities below. In addition, early snowfalls (while not extreme), made the deck replacement and installation of the new SBS modified bitumen roof system even more sensitive.

Extensive interior protection was required during deck replacement and careful monitoring of new deck installation and the new roof system was critical. Asphalt temperatures were checked often by the onsite project manager. When concern over temperatures and application standards arose, the project was temporarily shut down until the specified standards could be met. The end result of these efforts helped assure that application standards were met and construction was completed in a timely fashion.

The overall proactive approach the Oscar Mayer engineering and maintenance staff has taken regarding roof management will ensure the plant does not sacrifice production goals or safety because of improperly managed and maintained roofs. Leaks at the Madison plant have been virtually eliminated and total roof related expenditures have been reduced by nearly 20% over the last several years.