Case Study

Little Caesars Receives Energy Rebate Check

2010-06-01T22:50:41Z

Little Caesars franchisee Dave Rasmussen started saving money, even before he opened the doors, on his new Little Caesars store on September 1, 2009. The new store at 16230 SW Pacific Hwy in Tigard, Oregon, needed a walk-in cooler that could handle the heavy cooling load a Little Caesars store requires without breaking the bank on high energy costs. Blueline Foodservice Distribution and Imperial Manufacturing teamed together to offer Dave the best package currently available to meet his needs.

Imperial Manufacturing offers an energy efficient walk-in cooler built to Little Caesars specifications, with 5” thick R40 wall panels and an energy saving refrigeration system. These walk-ins have been tested at the Food Service Technology Center (FSTC) in California, the same lab that tests plug-in appliances for Energy Star ratings. Currently there isn’t an Energy Star rating for walk-in coolers and freezers as they do not fit the appliance model for Energy Star certification. FSTC testing proved the energy savings when operating the energy efficient Imperial walk-in vs the “standard” design walk-in. Many utilities offer rebates for customers who upgrade to the energy efficient Imperial walk-in, and Imperial will work with other utilities on your behalf to see if a rebate is available.

Franchisee Dave Rasmussen said, “Imperial has been great to work with and they have dependable coolers. I have not had any problems.” He also appreciates the rebate check he received from Jordana Goff, Program Manager for Energy Trust of Oregon.

Imperial was able to validate over 8000 kw hours of annual energy savings to the Energy Trust of Oregon if Dave installed the Imperial energy efficient walk-in, which equaled $803 of his rebate incentive check. Dave will also save money every month on his utility bill! Because of the energy savings and the incentive rebate, Dave’s return on investment for upgrading to the energy efficient walk-in was just over six (6) months!

In addition, the project had additional savings of 13,358 kWh and 14,952 Therms for other energy efficient equipment including lighting, foodservice equipment, and a tank-less water heater for which Energy Trust of Oregon awarded an additional incentive of $1,538 to Dave. In total the new facility had total annual savings of 21,392 kw hours and 14,952 Therms of gas! Dave Rasmussen was awarded a check in the amount of $2,341 from the Energy Trust of Oregon on January 14, 2010.

San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office Chooses Imperial Walk-in Coolers For Big Project

2010-05-12T09:05:05Z

The new facility is 84,000 square feet, more than five times larger than the original 16,000 sq ft facility built in the 1960’s and evidence of the growth of the entire San Diego area. The facility opened at the end of 2009 with a LEED Silver rating, featuring the latest in energy saving design and technology, including Imperial walk-in coolers.

The San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office investigates approximately 11,000 cases each year with roughly 3,000 cases brought in for further examination. By any measure, this is a big job and Imperial walk-in coolers meet the requirements in the new Medical Examiner’s facility, as seen in the facilities tour with Dr. Glenn Wagner.

Stainless steel is used throughout the coolers. All of the sliding doors are self closing, powered by the Imperial ICC-5 controller. Five of the doors are over 21 feet tall to handle very large cases and have pedestrian doors built-in for regular use. The shelving system is entire free standing for quick reconfiguration.

Doors used in the facility:

(6) standard flush doors
(1) wide flush door
(3) double flush doors
(5) 72"w x 253"h; double infit doors
(4) single slide ICC-5 doors (powered)
(2) biparting ICC-5 doors (powered)

Tour the facilities with Dr. Glenn Wagner, Chief Medical Examiner

Imperial Walk-in Coolers Complement Andaz Ambience

2009-06-18T14:42:00Z

These walk-in coolers complement the open kitchen and are easily viewed by the restaurant guest. The coolers store food and beverages in a variety of configurations, which are visible to the guest from the dining room. In fact, glass was included on the front and back of the walk-in cooler compartments, enabling the guest to see through the coolers and into the back-of-house areas where food is prepared.

The challenge in this project by Innovative Foodservice Design Team was to bring the walk-in coolers into the guest-viewable areas of the restaurant as part of the decor and as a statement of quality. Normally, walk-ins are in the back of the kitchen and maybe one or two walls might be seen from the dining area, and those walls are generally stainless steel or some other metal.

In this case, the walk-in coolers separate the dining area from the kitchen, so the entire length of the walk-in cooler complex is highly visible. Indeed, they were designed to be the focal point of the dining area, so the customer wanted them to look more like display cases. Adding to the challenge were pictures the customer showed us of wine display cabinets they saw at a trade show in Milan, stating they wanted the walk-in coolers to look like those cabinets.

The customer originally said they wanted solid glass walk-ins, which became impractical because of the technical design and manufacturing challenges involved. We settled on as much glass as possible with the remainder being highly polished stainless steel. Even the glass door frames are stainless steel, which required specialty design and manufacturing. Adding to the technical difficulty is that the hotel is in the middle of a seismic zone 4, requiring a design of mostly glass with the necessary structural strength to stand up to the stresses the structure will eventually encounter.

“The walk-in coolers were a critical element of the restaurant’s focal point,” stated Lee Simon, of Innovative Foodservice Design Team, designer of the Andaz West Hollywood’s foodservice facilities. “By challenging the norms, we were able to create a completely different experience for both guests and staff. We are pleased that Imperial was willing to accept our challenge on this project. The end product has allowed the property to differentiate itself in the marketplace, and the walk-ins were a big part of that strategy.”

Imperial Manufacturing considers every project as carefully as the Andaz West Hollywood, although most projects are much less technically challenging. Give us a call and ask us to help you conceive, design, manufacture and install your next project. We promise to treat you like the rock star you are.

R-Plus Doors On-Board With US Navy Ships

2007-10-30T19:26:00Z

The T-AKE 1 is a dry cargo/ammunition ship. Designed to operate independently for extended periods at sea while providing underway replenishment services, the T-AKE will directly contribute to the ability of the Navy to maintain a forward presence. These ships will provide logistic lift from sources of supply either in port or at sea and will transfer cargo that includes ammunition, food, fuel, repair parts, and expendable supplies and material to station ships and other naval warfare forces at sea.

R-Plus Doors got involved very early on in the design of the door, demonstrating its ability to engineer a custom product exceeding very stringent requirements. “Through the quoting stage, we spent a lot of energy defining the right product for the application. Our commitment to serving the customer was key to R-Plus being awarded this contract,” says David Zell, Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of R-Plus & Imperial Manufacturing. “Fitting thousands of components in a ship from a multitude of suppliers is a daunting task and our customer knew that we would be up for the challenge”.

Each ship is equipped with six 16’ wide by 8’ high stainless steel bi-part doors, electronically controlled and NEMA 4X rated. The development of the door started in 2003, based on our rugged ICC-3 door line. Many components have been sized up for the product to accept ship acceleration forces of up to 0.4G, 30 degree roll and 15 degree static heel. Functions were added, like a cane-bolt system with operator interlock allowing to keep the door leaf solidly anchored while the ship is in transit. A custom Programmable Logic Computer program was specifically written for the application.

To date, all 54 doors have been delivered on schedule. Three ships have already been commissioned and R-Plus actively participated in the final stages of the installation and testing for each ship. “Working on the shipyard has been a real interesting experience,” says Bart Maslowski, Production Manager and dedicated onsite engineer. “The shipyard crew has never installed this type of doors before. It took working very closely with the crew to train them and make sure that all was done right. We have forged a strong relationship and its always a pleasure to go back to the yard to commission another ship.”

“We learned a lot through the process and delighted our customer in our ability to promptly answer their questions and fulfill their needs. I once received a service call in the morning and found myself on the shipyard in the evening. When a problem arises, they know that they can count on us to fix it. This is one less thing that they have to worry about,” says Olivier Beillard, Project Manager. “I have no doubt that we will do more business together and that R-Plus Doors will be their #1 choice.”

R-Plus Doors is expecting to be awarded contracts for up to five more ships, to be delivered to the Navy through 2010.

With the strength of its experience with this high end application, R-Plus Doors is currently developing its fifth generation PLC controlled door. It promises to be extremely reliable and very easy to install. Stay tuned!

BASF Chemical Containment Chamber

2007-10-30T19:16:00Z

Since the chemicals being stored were flammable, the chamber needed to meet Class 1, Division 1 regulations and needed to be FM approved. It also needed to have blow out panels in the event of an accidental explosion. They also needed (1) emergency egress door and (2) 10’ x 10’ doors to allow forklift traffic, but they could not be sliding doors due to the potential to cause a spark. The required interior dimensions of the chamber were 31’ x 37’ 6” x 13’ at the lowest point, and the slab needed to have a slope for drainage of any spilled chemicals.
Imperial was able to meet all of the above criteria with FM-approved high density urethane framed panels and double swing doors. Recirculated glycol was used in lieu of heat cables. The chamber was self supporting, utilizing internal posts and beams and girt support for the walls. A concrete curb was poured for the walls to sit on due to the site not being level. Imperial also provided the roofing and weatherproofing materials, and handled the structural engineering utilizing Miller Consulting Engineers, and the installation utilizing Pitman Enterprises.
BASF and Luwa Environmental Specialties are very pleased with the completed chamber.

Spring Training And Spring Renovations At Dodger Stadium

2007-10-30T18:54:00Z

Rob Perry, the project manager for Raygal; George Perry, the principal foodservice consultant with Ricca Newmark Design in Greenwood Village, CO; and Rob Loucks from Imperial Mfg in Portland, OR, all took to the task in late December 2006.

The stadium’s unique design, the stringent codes and seismic requirements for Los Angeles, along with 1,600 lbs of beer pump equipment and condensing units that were to sit atop each of the coolers and the time constraints, all played significant roles in the challenges that lay head for this team of professionals. They began working very closely with the architect, HKS Architects, Inc in Dallas, TX and Miller Consulting Engineers in Portland, OR.

The on site date was nearing and changes were still being made due to last minute field dimensions that were given. The design team at Imperial really stepped up to the plate, pardon the pun, when changes came in the day before this project was scheduled to be released to the production floor. They were able to make these last minute changes, clear them with the engineers and still release the job to production the next day.

Imperial contracted WW Commercial Refrigeration in Los Angeles to install the coolers and the Heatcraft refrigeration equipment and they did an outstanding job. This was not an easy install as they were only allowed to work in certain sections of the stadium at specific times.

Currently, Ricca Newmark is working on Phase IV of the renovations which includes new walk-in coolers and freezers for the field level concessions due to install before the Ball season kicks off.

Yellowstone National Park Gets A Face Lift Behind The Scenes.

2007-10-30T18:44:01Z

Old Faithful Lodge was in need of replacing 3 storage rooms and remodeling one storage freezer; while Canyon Village required the replacement of a storage freezer and the addition of a cooler-freezer combo in the employee dining area. Kyle Hawkins from Bargreen-Ellingson in Tacoma, WA and Todd Sillars from Imperial Manufacturing took to the site in December 06 to evaluate the site for phase 1 thru 3 at the three main camps.

Imperial Manufacturing shipped the boxes and refrigeration to the site in March to their installers from Pitman Enterprises and Bargreen’s refrigeration installer Tim’s Mechanical Plus. The project required approximately 4 weeks to complete and cost was approximately $250,000 for Phase 1.

Still to come is phase 2 and 3 for the ‘08 and ‘09 season. This will include replacing the remaining boxes at Canyon Lodge, replacing the remaining boxes at Mammoth Lodge and adding two new boxes (one interior and one exterior) keeping in mind this is Yellowstone National Park. Snow load is not a problem for Imperial Manufacturing.