Grupo Modelo Barley Malting Facility, Idaho Falls, USA

Grupo Modelo SA de CV, one of the largest beer producers in Mexico, has now accomplished full production at the new state-of-the-art facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho, US. The facility is for the production of malted barley to be used in beer production. Construction of the new facility started in October 2002 and was completed in June 2005. Grupo Modelo has invested $84m in the plant.

The malted barley plant was built in Idaho because of its close proximity to the source of the raw material it required – barley grains. Idaho and the neighbouring state of Montana are two of the largest barley producing states in the USA. The malting facility is the first major production facility Grupo Modelo has constructed outside Mexico.

EXPERTISE EXCHANGE WITH ANHEUSER-BUSCH

The new facility was constructed adjacent to the Anheuser-Busch malting plant, built in 1991. The Anheuser-Busch facility is also currently undergoing an upgrade. The Anheuser Busch facility was constructed by Ibberson Inc of Minnesota with the expertise of Harper-Leavitt Engineering and AB Design and is now being expanded, doubling the existing 8 million bushel capacity to 16 million bushel malt (14 million bushel of barley grain).

There is a special relationship between the two companies, as Anheuser-Busch owns a major stake (more than 50%) in the Mexican company. There was significant technology and expertise exchange between Anheuser-Busch and Grupo Modelo during the construction of the plant.

CONSTRUCTION AND CONTRACTORS

Desert Sage Contractors, based in Idaho Falls, prepared the site through minor demolition work, rough grading, grubbing and erosion control. The 460-acre site is situated slightly north-west of the Anheuser-Busch malting facility on West Jameston Road.

The contractor responsible for the design-build, procurement and project management was CH2M Hill of Inglewood, Colorado. JH Kelly provided the mechanical systems installation on the new processing plan (including pipe fabrication) electrical engineering was carried out by Wheeler Electric. Industrial Design and Construction provided the equipment design, fit-out and construction expertise.

Project highlights include:

• Installation of Seginsa equipment - germination, steeping and kilning machines, grain receiving, destoning, and cleaning machines with a capacity 6,000 bushels per hour
• Erection of 18 stainless steel tanks including six 42ft x 40ft germination and kilning tanks and six 32ft x 40ft steeping tanks
• Installation of 7,400ft of drag conveyors, 1,000ft of screw conveyors and 3,700ft of bucket conveyors

The construction has also included massive concrete grain silos and coal-fired malting ovens / kilns.

The Grupo Modelo policy wasto make use of local subcontractors and suppliers as much as possible to integrate into the community.

BARLEY REQUIRMENTS AND MALT PRODUCTION

The new facility is capable of producing 100,000t of malted barley per year. State officials have calculated that the plant will buy an average of $17m of two-row irrigated barley per year, which corresponds to 58,000 acres of additional production per year at an average yield of 75 bushels per acre.

The plant will have a yearly capacity of 6.5 million bushels of barley. The company has entered into long-term supply contracts with over 200 local Idaho barley growers to fulfil this requirement.

The highly automated plant now employs 30 people and is in full production.

Grupo Modelo set up a grain supply company, GModelo Agriculture Inc, which started in 2003 to establish long-term contracts for barley to be transported to older malting facilities in Mexico prior to supplying the new facility in Idaho Falls.

TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTION

The malting process consists of three main sections. The first is steeping, where the incoming barley is passed from storage hoppers and quality control to be wetted in a cylindro-conical steeping vessel. This is the most important process since the grain needs to have moisture evenly distributed throughout. This is done by several cycles of washing and steeping with water before semi-dry transfer to the next stage.

The second process is germination, where the grain is evenly spread in a germination bed serviced by a rotating arm. The most efficient design, and one adopted by Grupo Modelo, is the multi-stack circular germination vessel. The germination process is carefully controlled, including the total germination period, temperature and conditioning of air to the grain, required number of turns and addition of water to the growing barley.

The final process is the kiln and air drying of the malted grain before it can be transferred for shipping. The germination and kiln drying may be combined in a single vessel to save space in state-of-the-art malting plants. All these vessels have fully automated cleaning, charging and discharging capability between batches.

FINANCE AND INCENTIVES

Grupo Modelo financed the Idaho Falls plant. However, various state incentives were put forward to make Idaho attractive to the company.

When the facility was first planned, it was to be situated in Manitoba, Canada. Due to the special business relationship between Anheuser-Busch and Grupo Modelo and the intervention of the governor of Idaho, Dick Kempthorne, the plant was re-sited to Idaho. Idaho has made a significant investment in the infrastructure around the new facility.

The land for the plant was purchased with the aid of $600,000 from the governor's Department of Energy (DOE) settlement fund provided by the regional development agency. The governor also provided Bonneville County with a $500,000 rural initiative cheque to develop a rail link for the facility. The rail link is very important as all the malted barley produce is to be shipped to the company's eight brewing facilities in Mexico; it has no brewing facilities in the US.

Grupo Modelo holds 61% of the country's total market share of beer including the domestic and export markets. The company markets ten brands including its number one seller Corona Extra. Corona Extra has 28% of the US imported beer market.

Securing the project for Idaho Falls was a collaborative effort on behalf of the Idaho Governors Office, Idaho Department of Agriculture, Idaho Department of Commerce, Bonneville County, the City of Idaho Falls, the Idaho Barley Commission, the Idaho Grain Producers Association, the Regional Development Alliance and the Eastern Idaho Economic Development Council.