Scalable Switchboard Design Enables Seamless Upgrade at Midfield Meats
Midfield Meats undertook a facility upgrade that required refurbishing their cooker equipment and expanding the associated switchboard infrastructure. A key challenge was maintaining production throughout the upgrade while ensuring the final system could scale to meet future operational demands.
To manage the staged rollout and control associated costs, Midfield needed an enclosure solution that could supply temporary power to the cooker during refurbishment and later transition into a permanent, robust installation for the upgraded equipment.
B&R’s iLINQ modular switchboard system was selected as the most suitable option. Its flexible, tiered design allowed the project to begin with a single iLINQ tier installed indoors to power the cooker temporarily. This approach ensured the plant could continue operating without downtime or the need for immediate major infrastructure work.
Once the cooker is recommissioned, the switchboard will be expanded to six tiers and relocated to an outdoor switch room using standard iLINQ components. According to Brendan Maloney, Midfield’s maintenance electrician, the system’s ease of configuration and adaptability made the planning and implementation process significantly more efficient. Designed to perform in demanding environments such as meat processing facilities, iLINQ also provided the resilience needed to manage unforeseen changes during the project.
