Saputo Cheese

Location: Reedsburg, Wisconsin

Areas of Expertise: Plumbing

Saputo Inc. converted its Reedsburg mozzarella cheese manufacturing facility into a goat cheese production plant to improve productivity and expand its growing specialty cheese market share. Saputo is one of the top ten dairy processors in the world, and in the U.S., the company ranks among the top three cheese producers. Saputo consolidated production and invested $45 million in the addition and renovation of the Reedsburg facility to increase operational efficiency and production.

Hooper used a variety of piping materials to install sanitary, storm, sanitizer, foamer, process waste, and compressed air systems. This required specialized installation methods for each system, including fusion welding, stainless pipe welding, stainless tube welding, and solvent welding. Hooper’s Fabrication Facility constructed piping systems in our shop, which helped expedite the project schedule and reduced the amount of time our crews were on the job site. This enabled other trades to have a greater opportunity to complete their work in the same spaces to stay on schedule.

Hooper also employed specialized installation methods to meet the customer’s strict Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements. The company’s Food Quality and Safety Policy and related programs ensure their high standards are consistently upheld across all operations. In FY2024, 100% of Saputo’s facilities were certified to Global Food Safety Initiative standards (GFSI) and maintained high scores, with 100% of the certified facilities achieving a Good or Excellent audit rating. Hooper’s work on the project required extensive industry knowledge and adherence to these high-quality, food safety standards.

The Saputo facility addition and renovation required thorough analysis of existing plumbing and process piping systems to determine the most efficient manner to execute construction of the forthcoming project. Prior to the start of the project, Hooper employed camera-assisted locating equipment to map out underground piping for construction document issuance.