Case Studies :: Riviana Foods

Size: Main Plant - 426,034 S.F.
Boiler Plant - 7,168 S.F.
Truck Unload - 6,200 S.F.

Type of Construction: The building was designed and constructed with concrete tilt-up panels with structural steel frame, mezzanine, conveyor and material handling systems, and a 32 silo-tank farm.

Contract Value: $42,398,390

Challenge: This project presented many challenges both before construction activity commenced and in the early planning stages. Riviana Foods is the largest Rice Production plant in the Americas. Ownership is based in Spain and top management for North America is based in Houston, Texas. Global communication needed to be established and Riviana had to be assured that existing operations would not be altered during construction. This project had many unique design features including the addition of three 1,200 hp boilers that would need to provide steam to production lines over 400 feet away and to be piped over an existing building and street. Additional complexities were encountered as a result of Riviana's requiring beneficial occupancy to complete work on their production lines.

Solution: Linkous Construction selected a team managed by Mike Brewer, a 40 year veteran in the construction industry. In addition, Danny Johnson, one of our industrial experts, was placed on-site to provide full-time Project Management for this global Client. Riviana moved a representative to Memphis to oversee the project. During planning, Riviana relied heavily on Linkous to provide schedules which would successfully coordinate all trades, including material handling, silo-tank fabricators, and process contractors. Extensive planning was required to construct the shell building. The panels for this project were 49.5’ tall with a weight of 82,500 lbs. Site constraints did not allow for an erector to lift these panels around the perimeter. All panels were erected from the slab. Linkous provided a plan for review by the structural engineer and successfully erected all panels. Our team worked diligently and managed all subcontractors to remain flexible to assure beneficial occupancy coordination for the Owner.

Linkous Construction is ahead of schedule and will complete this project approximately six weeks early, and will have savings from original contract value to be returned to the Owner.