Hunt-Wesson's new $54 million, 216,000 sq.-ft. Snack Pack Pudding plant at Waterloo, IA, was named Food Engineering's 1999 Plant of the Year at an awards banquet held during Plant Tech '99 May 24 in Chicago. The plant has initial capacity to produce nine million cases per year and can be quickly expanded to increase that capacity. Puddings are sterilized and cooled in an all-tubular aseptic processing system incorporating double-tube and triple-tube heat exchangers which boost thermal efficiency and reduce maintenance costs.

To execute the project, Hunt-Wesson combined its aseptic processing expertise with the engineering and construction capabilities of Lockwood Greene. The plant was built in 15 months as a fast-track design/construction management project. Hunt-Wesson's Rick Tucker, plant manager of the Waterloo facility, presented highlights of this award-winning project to the Plant Tech audience. Joining Rick Tucker in his presentation were: Neff Russell, chief engineer, Hunt-Wesson; Bill Butsic, area plant manager, Hunt-Wesson; Jim Parsons, project manager, Lockwood Greene; and Tucker Maloney, global client development director, food & beverage, Lockwood Greene.

Plant Tech and the newly created Food Automation 2000 are food industry conferences produced by Food Engineering. For information about either of these special industry events, please call (610) 964-4441 or visit our web site: www.foodexplorer.com.