Tour: Kingsford Plant (lot of pics)
 

Kingsford Invitational - Part Three

My previous post in this series ended with the group heading from St. Louis
to Belle, Missouri to the site of the inaugural Kingsford Invitational
barbecue competition. Not only were we about to be spectators to an
incredible competition, but we'd also get to tour the largest Kingsford
charcoal plant. As I said earlier, dudes love to see how things are made, so
I was really looking forward to it.


http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...ordPlant-1.jpg

Belle is a very small town located about two and a half hours southwest of
St. Louis, and the drive has the palpable feel of midwest Americana. I
spent my teen years in Columbia, which is smack dab between St. Louis
and Kansas City, but it had been nearly 20 years since I'd been on the
ground in this area of the country. What is known by some as "flyover
country" was freshly familiar to me, and I enjoyed the trip.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...ordPlant-2.jpg

The weather, minus the considerable wind, was just about as perfect as
one could expect for early November in central Missouri. We enjoyed
wall-to-wall sunshine with temperatures in the low 70's. The setting of the
plant is not at all what I expected. It's in a what looks like a small valley
that's surrounded by gently rolling hills, and at this time of year, trees still
clad in multicolored leaves.

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We walked to the plant and the first thing that catches your eye, other
than the unexpected size of the complex, is the giant mound of what looks
like dirt from a distance.

We went into the welcome area, donned our protective gear and, after a
short safety briefing, we headed out to start the tour. We were split into
several small groups and each was assigned a tour guide. Fortunately, my
group had the plant manager, Steve Miller (no relation) as our guide. He
was very friendly and more than eager to answer any and all of our
questions.

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Our first stop was that apparent dirt mound. It's actually an incredibly
large pile of sawdust and wood that's recycled from various sources. How
big? Well this plant produces something like seven million pounds of
charcoal per day, and it takes eight pounds of raw wood to make one
pound of what becomes the wood char from which the briquets are made.
A little quick math tells you that this plant consumes about 56 million
pounds of wood per day.

The wood (mostly oak, and some hickory) is trucked in and dumped. Then
the dozer driver constantly mixes the wood so that the moisture level and
age are as evenly distributed as possible. The dozer then pushes the wood
into a huge chute that leads to what was described by Steve as a
200-horsepower garbage disposal. That machine chews up the wood and
spits it out in a fairly uniform size onto the conveyor that feeds the plant.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...ordPlant-5.jpg

Next the wood is fed into huge dryers that reduce the percentage of
moisture in the wood from about 30 percent down to about five percent.

The dried wood then heads to the huge multi-stage oven, called a retort,
that bakes the wood in an oxygen-starved environment at about 1000
degrees. The result is the wood char (black stuff) that makes up the bulk
of each briquet.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...ordPlant-7.jpg

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...ordPlant-6.jpg

What struck me as we walked past the retort was the absolute absence of
any smell of anything burning. In fact, other than the smell of the wood
pile, this plant has no smell.

When I asked Steve about that he pointed to the top of the stack on the
right of the picture above and said, "See that? That's all the smoke that
comes off of this plant." He went on to say that their retort is the most
advanced in the world and that the emissions from this plant are incredibly
low. Additionally, most of the energy used in the plant is recycled on-site.

The char is then mixed with a handful of other ingredients and is molded
into the familiar briquet shape.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...ordPlant-9.jpg

At this point the briquets have the consistency of a baked brownie. Steve
handed each of us one and they were barely warm and easily broken apart
by hand. The excess around the edges of each briquet is shaken off and
recycled.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...ordPlant-8.jpg

The briquets are then spread about a foot thick onto a huge conveyor
which takes them through a gigantic dryer.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-11.jpg

Hot air is forced through them from top and bottom and they emerge as
the product that we know.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-12.jpg

The product then heads to the bagging line.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-14.jpg

The bags are blown open with air and filled.

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Then they're sealed.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-16.jpg

Next they head to the machine that automatically places the bags on
pallets.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-17.jpg

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-18.jpg

Finally, each pallet is robotically wrapped in plastic and placed for the
forklift driver to take it to the warehouse.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-19.jpg

Oh, and the warehouse is incredibly large. I think Steve said that it is
200,000 square feet.

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-21.jpg

As you can see, the pallets are stacked six high. Steve said that during
the winter months that they work to fill the warehouse in preparation for
the kick-off of grilling season (Memorial Day).

http://files.patiodaddiobbq.com/imag...rdPlant-20.jpg

I can't thank the folks at the Kingsford plant in Belle enough for their
hospitality and for the incredible tour. Steve was a great tour guide, and I
could tell that he takes great pride in his crew and his plant. The place
was incredibly clean for a charcoal plant. Oh, and it struck me that along
the tour Steve stopped and thanked every worker that we encountered for
coming in that day. It was the opening day of deer season, and the folks
working that day volunteered to work. That kind of leadership is sadly rare
these days.

In the next installment of this series I'll cover the Kingsford Invitational
competition itself.

Related posts:
Kingsford Invitational - Part One
Kingsford Invitational - Part Two

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John

Great little virtual tour. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the tour, I missed the first two parts (caught up now) but what struck me was the the scale of the Kingsford plant as well as the AB brewery - boggles the mind!

John thank you for the tour. Very much appreciated.

Not sure if it was such marketing genius to put the Kingsford logo right next to the Clorox logo on those big tanks! Lol


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Seeing a tank of clorox:twitch: is all it takes for me to have another reason not to use that stuff.:puke: However I find the Manf. process interesting thanks for showing us how they do it.

Very Nice!!

Very cool, Thanks!

Kingsford is owned by the Clorox company...
http://investors.thecloroxcompany.co...leaseid=184591

"The Kingsford Products Company is a subsidiary of The Clorox Company, headquartered in Oakland, Calif. The Clorox Company is a leading manufacturer and marketer of consumer products with fiscal year 2005 revenues of $4.4 billion. Clorox markets some of consumers' most trusted and recognized brand names, including its namesake bleach and cleaning products, Armor All® and STP® auto care products, Fresh Step® and Scoop Away® cat litters, Kingsford® charcoal briquets, Hidden Valley® and K C Masterpiece® dressings and sauces, Brita® water-filtration systems, and Glad® bags, wraps and containers. With 7,600 employees worldwide, the company manufactures products in 25 countries and markets them in more than 100 countries. Clorox is committed to making a positive difference in the communities where its employees work and live. Founded in 1980, The Clorox Company Foundation has awarded cash grants totaling more than $62.2 million to nonprofit organizations, schools and colleges; and in fiscal 2005 alone made product donations valued at $4.9 million. For more information about Clorox, visit www.TheCloroxCompany.com."

That's awesome to see how much pride they put into their working place and product. Thanks for the tour.

It's not a tank of Clorox. Kingsford is a Clorox brand, as are KC Masterpiece and Hidden
Valley Ranch. :wink:

John

Thanks for posting here too . Saw this over on Google Plus. information I am sure a lot of the Brethren are interested in.

Thanks P-D, That is good stuff, sounds like you had a good time too, that's great.

That's pretty cool. Thanks for posting!

thats awesome thank you i would love todo the tour.

Nice post about a successful company that supports our passion for outdoor cooking. For those interested, here is some additional information about Kingsford briquets http://old.cbbqa.org/wood/Kingsford.html . I continue to use their briquets for grilling, (not smoking), but was surprised to see coal and limestone in the ingredients.

Yeah, I'm kidding, of course, but having been around consumer brands marketing awhile, just saying these are two items, although widely used and admired nationwide, you don't want associated together, or even a suggestion that they are being manufactured in the same plant. Kind of like the company that makes Purina pet food also owns consumer food brands, but you not going to see their signs side by side in marketing... Just an observation....


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x10...thanks for posting!

Saw almost the same thing on the History channel.The"wood"looked like rotten mulch.Then they mix it with coal dust.You ever smell coal burn.No briquettes for me.Pretty cool though.

Awesome post. Thanks for the tour info.

Thanks for the Excellent post Patio Daddio. Very informative indeed!

Pretty cool .........

Loved the photos.