Graphic Packaging International recently made one of their largest investments in company history in expanding their operations in Kalamazoo with a new, state-of-the-art coated recycled board (CRB) machine. The expanded Kalamazoo mill is now the most modern, efficient, and competitive CRB mill in North America, with the ability to produce 1.2 million tons of coated recycled paperboard, accounting for over 40% of the recycled paperboard in the North American market. Dubbed Project Bronco, the project consisted of mill wide upgrades, four new buildings totaling 350,000 sq.ft. and a new paper machine called K2. The new buildings included a pm hall – housing K2, a corrugated container storage area, a boiler house, and a new finished goods warehouse. The boiler house was one of multiple projects completed by Buist Electric. The stand alone, two-story, 32,500 sq.ft. building houses two new natural gas-fired boilers. These boilers are automated with the latest field-based process automation which is tightly integrated with the DCS that runs the mills three paper machines. Buist provided the power, wiring, and most of the electrical and mechanical instrumentation on the project. The project included a new 13.8kV feed from the pm hall, (2) 2500kva substations, (6) 1600A MCC’s, (1) 50 kW UPS, (6) distribution panels, (5) 400 & 500HP VFD’s, (1) 4-section DCS cabinet, (1) 2-section CEMS cabinet, (52) system panels, (459) wired instruments, (146) stainless tubed instruments, heat trace, general power, and lighting. Over 87,000’ of cable was installed on the project. The work was completed on-time and on-budget in eight months and required two shifts. Over 70,000 manhours were worked on Buist’s contracted work across the overall project.
The overall Graphic project was heavily completed via union labor, however Buist (merit shop) completed one of the most important critical pieces of the project, the Boiler House. The building was constructed during the overall mill expansion. It had a very tight schedule and the design had not been fully complete. The purpose of the Boiler House building is to generate steam for power and process systems throughout the mill. Steam plays an integral part in the new paper machine’s process and was a critical component in the overall schedule. Buist Electric was working on numerous other projects across the overall project while completing the Boiler House. We had four separate office areas setup across the site to handle the work.
This project was a huge success for everyone involved and is the winner of the 2022 Excellence in Construction Award for the Electrical category.
