An Imperial Brown walk-in freezer/cooler unit has taken center stage at a culinary training center, part of a school district’s trade school program in Genessee County, Mich.
The customized unit, built for the PISD Genessee Intermediate School District in Flint, Mich., contains a large window open to the hallway so that students can be observed in hands-on training in the meat prep area.
To achieve this, Imperial Brown constructed two 48-inch by 48-inch windows in the unit, which allow for an 84-inch by 48-inch viewing area in the meat prep area.
The culinary training center is attracting interest from other school districts that offer trade school programs, according to Ron DeMeester, consultant for the project, who works with Imperial Brown.
“It’s a beautiful facility,” he said, with LED lighting in the meat prep area and white aluminum finished interior walls and ceilings. The exterior is stainless steel.
The 3-compartment unit is a freezer/cooler/cooler. All doors are equipped with 14-inch by 24-inch windows as an added safety feature. “The students and faculty can easily see in and out of the walk-in, without opening a door in traffic,” said Kristy Heatley of Imperial Brown.
Imperial Brown’s North Carolina manufacturing facility used hybrid construction to build the combo unit, combining high-density urethane edge (HDU) and low-density urethane edge (LDU) panels. Imperial Brown is the only manufacturing facility in the country with the ability to produce HDU/LDU combination panels, a distinct price and technical advantage to customers.
This hybrid technique creates a product that has advantages over traditional products, either a complete LDU or HDU walk-in cooler. The technique gives the factory complete flexibility to build coolers of any shape or size, while containing cost. The result is a stronger, consistent product, with a more efficient production time, a lower materials cost and a higher overall R-rating.
