American Crystal Sugar Tours Gramercy Refinery

Executives from American Crystal Sugar are given a tour the Gramercy refinery packaging floor by David Duncan, director-technical services .

Continuing its commitment to sharing industry-wide safety practices in the sugar refining process, Imperial Sugar recently welcomed visiting executives from Minnesota-based American Crystal Sugar Company to Imperial’s Gramercy cane sugar refinery, 35 miles northwest of New Orleans.

During the day-long sessions, the American Crystal representatives were shown safety improvements at the Gramercy refinery that included comprehensive upgrades to equipment along virtually every step of the refining process: bucket elevators, granulators, dust collectors, packaging equipment and storage bins.

The refinery tour and presentations also included programs designed to improve housekeeping and reduce dust accumulations, including dust hazard training, establishment of regimented cleaning schedules, and strengthening of preventative maintenance schedules to reduce sugar leaks.

“This meeting was quite important for three reasons,” said Ron Allen, Imperial Sugar’s senior director of environmental safety, health and quality:

“First, it represented a unique opportunity to share our experiences with others in our industry and demonstrate what can be done to successfully retrofit an existing, 114-year old facility.

“Second, a meeting like this helps us learn from a peer company about their experiences in reducing the fire and explosion risks associated with sugar and sugar dust. We’re all very impressed with the innovation and high quality work that American Crystal has demonstrated.

“Third, the transparent sharing of information underlined the sugar industry’s commitment to work together for the protection of our mutual workforces and the industry as a whole.”

Brian Ingulsrud, American Crystal’s vice president of administration, explains his operations to members of Imperial Sugar safety team as Frank Latta, American Crystal’s Packaging and Warehouse Manager, listens in background.

Convening at Gramercy’s historic “Blue House” – originally built near the refinery in 1910 as the plant manager’s residence – the meeting was part of an overall, ongoing and comprehensive initiative by Imperial Sugar to host representatives from other sugar companies and from the industry as a whole – including competitors – to share innovative program details, research and technology that will lead to enhanced, industry-wide safety in the production of sugar.

The teams exchanged approaches to achieve best practices that were focused on safety improvements, information about management systems and incidents that had occurred at both participating companies.

After the presentations, the entire group then donned fire retardant protective coveralls, safety glasses, hairnets, earplugs and steel-toed boots – all part of Gramercy’s expanded safety program for visitors and workers alike – for a tour of the sprawling facility to inspect the engineering enhancements at the Gramercy cane sugar refinery.

“I was very impressed with the excellent housekeeping I observed during the tour of the Gramercy facility,” said Brian Ingulsrud, American Crystal’s vice president of administration. “It was great to see that the employees are working so well as a team to keep each other safe.”

“The most important thing we can all do is to understand safety needs and requirements,” added American Crystal’s Packaging and Warehouse Manager Frank Latta. “Clearly, Imperial Sugar is committed to sharing concerns and information. At the end of the day, we all want to be safe and to enjoy life.”