Success Story: Champion Pet Foods

Titan Research Group helps Gray save time & money & improve communication with local Edmonton oil & gas trained professionals.

"We are excited as these new kitchens will not only allow us to innovate and advance our Bio- logically Appropriate™ mandate, but also allow us to satisfy pet lovers everywhere who trust us by feeding their pets ACANA and ORIJEN."
Frank Burdzy, President and CEO
Champion Pet Foods

The Story

Building a dog food factory in the heart of oil country, Alberta raised several interesting challenges to the innovative people at Champion Pet Foods with the build of their new Northstar® Kitchens installation just South West of Edmonton. That is why Gray Construction Company Canada asked Titan Research Group (TRG) to help mitigate their commercial risks, assess the regulatory approvals requirements and bolster its inspection team and methodologies. Shortly after the installation started the disagreements arose around the use of piping materials across the temperature and pressure ranges that the plant would be subject to in the course of its operation. TRG applied change from within, by empowering the front lines with knowledge and providing all parties with a technical basis for the pipe choice but also provided an estimate of the cost to change to a more oil installation type of pipe, ultimately resulting in a cost effective solution for all parties once quantified costs were properly weighed.

TRG’s unconventional approach is front- line centric, and not top down as with the standard project management office (PMO) approach to change. At TRG we realize that change is hard, but change comes with cross functional collaboration, skill building and coaching.Our approach aligns leadership roles with real sources of project value to engage people and mitigate risks proactively and on the fly. Over the course of 6 months TRG helped Gray, the main contractor, streamline its inspection process by bringing aboard experienced inspection staff with high purity equipment visual inspection training and oil based know-how to enable strong communication skills to train installation and Owner’s Inspector’s professionals.

Additionally, TRG worked with all of the multitude of project vendors from around the world to ensure compliance to the local Canadian Registration Requirements of the Alberta Boiler Safety Association as well as electrical safety requirements and field inspection regulations. By putting the onus on the supply chain to understand the regulatory requirements, vendors quickly aligned with the key objectives of the project to construct a safe, modern and efficient pet food installation. All -in-all TRG helped make Northstar® Kitchens on its journey to become one of
the highest of quality suppliers of pet foods

Project Highlights

  • $1m saving in pipework
    Rapid project completion due to:
  • High-quality inspection competence
  • On budget decision making
    Consultative approaches to communication