P1 Renovations Help Elanco Combat Dangerous Dog Disease

Parvo is a highly infectious and dangerous disease in dogs, particularly puppies, and Elanco Animal Health in Elwood, KS, has just made a significant breakthrough in the treatment of the disease.

Built to bring the facilities and communities we serve to life, P1 has been an integral part of Elanco’s operations for more than eight years. Most recently, the St. Joseph electrical team completed work on a 25,000 sq. ft. renovation at the facility.

Elanco, (formerly Kindred Bio) has a newly developed treatment for Parvo.

Prior to the development of Trutect™, Elanco’s Canine Parvovirus Monoclonal Antibody (CPMA), the only treatment was early diagnosis and intensive supportive care in a veterinary hospital. With the use of Trutect™, survival odds have increased to 93 percent.

In order to produce this new product, Elanco invested in the renovation of 25,000 sq. ft. of existing space at the Elwood facility.

Burns & McDonald was the general contractor, and P1 was awarded the electrical subcontract with the initial amount of $4.5 million.

According to Project Manager Cris Ray, since P1 has done all the electrical work in the building for nearly a decade, the team was familiar with the building and systems before the project began.

“Elanco had to close all production during this renovation period, so the project was given a strict 18-month time frame,” Cris said. “They were adamant that the project finish on time to avoid revenue loss.”

The P1 field staff worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day for the duration, utilizing anywhere from 25-46 electricians per day. 

The project required the removal of some existing electrical systems, and installation of new product to supply the equipment for the pharmaceutical clean room and production facility, including generators and building management systems. 

“New generators were tied into the facility to provide back-up power in the most critical areas,” Cris said.

Pictured above: Chiller VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) and Control System basket trays.

P1 partnered with outside contractor Control Services for all the building management systems, providing critical, advanced environmental control.

The programmable logic controller (PLC) is especially important to the daily operations of Elanco.

“We did all the HVAC controls with Control Services, including the points that monitor the air quality and pressure differentials inside and outside of the buildings,” Cris said.

“Room temperatures and humidity levels need to be maintained at exact specifications to support the integrity of their products, and the PLC makes it possible to monitor all this,”

“If a room gets too hot, they can make immediate adjustments to get the temperature back in range.”

During the course of the project, the freezers also needed to be upgraded.

Elanco rented mobile freezers to store their products and P1 had two weeks to pull out all the existing wiring and install all new.

The team got it done in one week.

“We had the staff working as much as possible in order to get finished on time, but change orders and additions kept coming, which ended up increasing the contract amount from the original $4.5M to $9.8M at the completion,” Cris said.

“Even with double the contract amount, we were still able to turn the building over within two months of the original deadline.”

The job required the support of several foreman, with Brian Miller acting as lead along with Electrical Foremen Blaine Logan, Zach Rever, Lane Evans, Caleb Delaney, and Baily Hazelrigg.

“This was a complete team effort, and I can’t say enough about the job these guys did managing the project and keeping everything on schedule, especially with the number of additions to the project and the hours everyone had to work,” Cris said.

Elanco now has a state-of-the-art facility in which to produce their life saving treatment, and P1 is proud to be part of this critical contribution to animal health!