ahead for our customers starting earlier and extending longer than usual into next year.” To that end, David is introducing a new work pattern for the


production staff involving three shifts so that production continues 24/7.


The exceptionally busy summer also meant there was less


opportunity than normal for routine maintenance and brought home the need to ensure the mill is kept running over the forthcoming winter feeding season. So David has introduced a maintenance team, recruited from within the business, consisting of one electrical and one mechanical engineer, which means the mill is now in a position where it is possible to react much more quickly to any problems than would previously have been the case. It is also planned that an apprentice will be taken on to provide continuity and succession planning for the maintenance team. There are a relatively small number of people working at


Carmarthen, remote from the head office at Llansantffraid where trading, transport, the payroll and HR and the associated support network are based. The arrangement is a little complicated and brings some challenges, David admits, but he says his team are a great close-knit bunch and always pull together in a crisis. Transport director Ged Young is based at Llansantffraid but Carmarthen has its own transport manager in Alison Griffiths who is responsible for moving up to 500 tonnes each of raw materials and finished products per day using a combination of both own transport and third party vehicles. Obviously third party is more expensive, but the flexibility it offers is vital, especially coming into winter. About 26 lorries per day come in to unload between six in the morning and six at night; there is no night tipping on the site. Matt Dony, who is responsible for QA/QC and health and safety,


reports directly to David and deals with all legislative requirements relating to UFAS accreditation, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate and trading standards. Production manager Gareth Jones has five years’ experience in the feed industry, having started in the control room and worked his way up. “He is my eyes and ears for the site,” says David, “very knowledgeable about feed and how best to produce it.” Behind Gareth there is the team working in the control room, 24/7 as previously described, while for the six people on bulk outloading work is arranged into three 8 hour shifts during the week, plus Saturdays if required, with Sunday night included as a part of the contracted hours in order to ensure lorries are full and ready to go on Monday mornings. Complementing the sales representatives out on the road, there


is a team of four customer services people at Carmarthen, led by Huw Jenkins. Essentially the sales representatives will agree contracts with their farmer customers and the customer services team will administer them, taking and processing orders and passing them on to Gareth to translate into a production schedule. As agriculture has changed dramatically over the last decades


we are dealing with very professional businesses which have a lot of capital tied up in their animals and land and they require a return on their investment. They want the best performance out of their animals.” There


 suppliers of    


Above: Intake and bulk outloading


is more science involved than there has ever been and rations can be formulated with the right combination of nutrients and trace elements to get the best out of the herd, ensuring optimal performance. Businesses with this level of commitment need a return on capital invested and we are tasked with providing what they want and when they want it. We need to be as responsive and supportive to our customers as we can be.” Believing that they could learn from other manufacturing sectors


was one of the reasons that Wynnstay were keen to appoint someone from outside the industry. The principles of manufacturing are the same whether you are producing feed or cars, David believes, and the automotive industry has a well-deserved reputation for being efficient and quick to react to market changes. By appointing someone with a knowledge of best practice from this sector, Wynnstay are hoping to bring some of the measures and experiences on board for the site at Carmarthen to try to drive up efficiency and make improvements in the supply chain. “Gone are the days when you could just buy a press, get some


raw materials and make a product to sell,” says David. The industry is governed by a number of strict legislative bodies such as the VMD and the UFAS accreditation board. Things have to be done properly. “Coming from the automotive industry, with the audit trail that is required, getting things first, on time and every time is second nature to me. It is something that we should all aspire to.”


FEED COMPOUNDER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 PAGE 25


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