Construction standards high for food, nutrition facility

Executives of NOW Foods like to include systems to capture and reuse the rainwater that falls on their facilities around North America.

And they were all ready to include a similar system in the company's new building in Sparks all ready, that is, until someone noted that the annual rainfall at the facility on Vista Boulevard isn't much more than the rain that falls at NOW's headquarters in Bloomingdale, Ill., on a single rainy weekend in the Midwest.

The 130,000-square-foot NOW Foods facility, one of the first major industrial projects to break ground in northern Nevada since the onset of the recession, challenges construction teams as well as NOW Foods, a manufacturer and distributor of dietary supplements, natural foods, sports nutrition and personal care products.

Those products require high standards for security, safety, health and cleanliness, says Michael Russell, chief operating officer for United Construction, which is building the company's new facility.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration established "Current Good Manufacturing Processes" as guidelines for companies in the supplements and natural foods industries.

"Those mandate the design of a facility," says Jim Emme, chief operations officer for NOW Foods. "Then we go above and beyond that."

The federal standards range from guidelines for keeping products cold to standards for cleanliness.

For example, the cleanliness requirements dictate that columns inside the building will be painted white. The heating and air conditioning systems are designed to provide high air pressures inside the facility so that dust can't get in. Security is tight, both at the building and around its perimeter.

None of this is particularly difficult, Russell says, but it demands expertise from United and its subcontractors. While the company will rely on northern Nevada subcontractors for much of the work at the NOW Foods facility, not all potential subcontractors have the skill or experience to handle the work.

United Construction, Russell noted, developed skills in pharmaceutical projects with work it's completed in the past for Merck, Pfizer, Alcon Laboratories, Henry Schein, Boehringer Ingleheim and Schering-Plough in northern Nevada.

Emme said the Vista Boulevard project is further complicated by its combination of distribution and manufacturing operations an unusual mix in the industry.

The company will initially move distribution operations now located on Packer Way in Sparks into the new building. But it expects to develop about 50,000 square feet of manufacturing space as well in the new project.

"We try to build our buildings around our processes," Emme said.

Development of a distribution and manufacturing facility in northern Nevada presents some questions that are unique to the region. Rainfall-capture systems are out. Higher standards for seismic protection are in, Emme said.

The teams from NOW Foods and United Construction spent more than 12 hours together last week talking through the details of the project.

"Most contractors don't like doing that," Emme acknowledged.

NOW Foods expects to begin moving into the distribution center next March, adding about 10 employees in the process.