By Chandler Hansen, Special to NEAFA
Dr. Charles Stark, the Jim and Carol Brown Professor in Feed Technology at Kansas State University, gave the second presentation of the 2022 NEAFA Annual Meeting on the future of feed mill manufacturing.
Stark overviewed ways in which feed mills can become more efficient and sustainable to meet the challenges facing the feed industry. “Some of the challenges facing the feed industry are climate change, drought, growing global population, the COVID-19 pandemic, and adapting to green energy,” said Stark. “For feed mills to remain economically sustainable they need to respond to issues such as balancing customer expectations and animal performance, implementing automations for tasks vs. keeping human employees, and balancing environmental impact and costs.” Stark also shared an advantage of feed mills saying, “Feed mills are recyclers. We use products other industries don’t necessarily want.”
Stark’s next topic was energy management and conservation in the feed mill, and the importance of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) when operating a feed mill. These can be measured in different ways. Keeping track of KPIs can improve energy management which is good for sustainability and the environment. Some examples he provided of improving energy management were tracking usage of motors and lights. According to Stark, keeping up with technological advances and maintaining equipment are good ways to conserve energy, and therefore improve cost efficiency in the mill.
“Biosecurity is another important facet of feed mill operation,” said Stark. “You want to have biosecurity measures in place to prevent feed contamination. You can improve biosecurity by having policies in place for visitors to your mill. Tracking when visitors are on the premises, and having them wear appropriate protective clothing is one step. Purchasing ingredients from verified suppliers that abide by certain specifications, and implementing employee policies that cover hygiene, in-plant movement, sanitation, etc., is another. Biosecurity will look different for each individual plant, but measures to secure it will be good for the plant and the product.”
Finally, Stark shared insights on how to improve overall feed mill efficiency. “In a feed mill, there can at times be competing goals between different departments,” said Stark. “Nutritionists want to maximize animal performance. Management wants to maximize feed mill performance. Others are most concerned with quality and customer perception of the product’s quality. Getting all departments of a feed mill working together, and working towards similar objectives will improve efficiency.”
In closing, Stark shared some additional take home points. First, sustainability is an on- going process for feed mills to work on. Second, biosecurity requirements will continue to increase. Third, automation will continue to increase and reduce operating costs. Lastly, business objectives and KPIs must be a part of the business/operations culture.