Industrial Baking Facility – Villa rica, Georgia
Scenario
Sterling supported refrigeration work for an industrial baking facility in Villa Rica, Georgia, as part of a short-term expansion. The scope focused on addressing space constraints within the cold dock area while enabling increased operational capacity. The expansion was completed over approximately three months. Sterling’s refrigeration installation was performed within a focused two-to-three-week construction window as part of that schedule.
Challenges
The cold dock area presented significant physical constraints that required careful coordination between design and installation:
The dock required a 20-foot minimum clearance, but existing ceiling heights were insufficient to accommodate standard refrigeration equipment and piping layouts.
A mezzanine above the dock introduced an additional concrete floor between the refrigeration space and the roof, complicating access for piping and equipment placement.
Refrigeration piping needed to pass through the mezzanine and roof structure without compromising structural integrity or clearance requirements.
These constraints increased the importance of precise equipment sizing and coordinated installation sequencing.
Our Solution
We worked closely with the project team to engineer a refrigeration layout that met clearance requirements while maintaining system performance:
Evaporators serving the dock were selected and sized with a shallower profile, allowing the required 20-foot clearance to be maintained without sacrificing refrigeration capacity.
Refrigeration piping was carefully routed from the evaporators to roof-mounted condensers, accounting for the mezzanine and structural transitions.
A controlled cutout was created through the concrete mezzanine to allow piping to pass through. All penetrations were properly sealed to maintain building integrity and operational standards.
This approach allowed for delivery within the planned construction window with minimal disruption to surrounding operations, and the refrigeration system to be installed within tight spatial constraints while supporting the facility’s expansion goals.