Leprino Foods Whey and Cheese Plant

The Leprino Foods Lemoore West Plant was a ground up new construction project for a 750,000-sf, state-of-the-art dairy processing facility capable of processing six million pounds of milk daily into approximately 600,000 pounds of mozzarella cheese and value-added whey products. Big-D Construction’s scope of work included development of the 61-acre site that consisted of grading, site utilities, facility roads, and fencing, as well as an on-site process wastewater treatment plant and minimal off-site street development. The plant itself includes spaces for milk receiving, refrigeration engine rooms, cheese making and processing, cold storage, whey processing areas, a whey evaporator/dryer bin, a whey warehouse, offices, and storage. A unique feature of the facility is the utilidor, a two-story corridor throughout the plant housing all utility and process pipe main runs. The process areas feature a suspended walk-on ceiling constructed of insulated metal panels, directly accessible from the utilidor for maintenance from the second level.