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Bringing that culture into the business applies not only to


manufacturing but also to transport, to deliver what is required on time and in full, and there are a number of measures in place at Carmarthen to make sure that happens. David recognises that making animal feeds will never be the same


as an automotive production line; there will always be farmers who run out of feeds and their suppliers will have to react. But the principles are similar. “It doesn’t matter if you are within the aerospace industry, automotive or feed manufacture” he says. “You maximise your uptime and you drive your efficiency as high as it can be.” At the Carmarthen mill, there is a mixer to produce the blends and


mashes, alongside two double pelleting lines which produce about 8 tonnes per hour each of compound feed, depending on the particular feed being produced and on the experience and skill of the operator. It is a 40 year old mill and that in itself brings challenges. “You have to ask, if you were building a brand-new mill today, would you build it in the same way?” asks David. “The answer is ‘definitely not’, but that’s not to say it wasn’t right for the situation 40 years ago.” And it still does a very good job, although the team is always looking at ways of getting more out of the plant. There is a schedule of improvements planned to take place over the next 18 months designed to increase output and improve efficiency. More than that, David did not want to say at this stage, although he did invite me to come back and see it when the work is complete. One particular challenge of a mill of this age is housekeeping,


which is addressed by having two cleaners working fulltime and reporting directly to David, who is ultimately responsible for hygiene on the site. He has brought in a strict auditing regime to make sure that what needs to be done is done whether it is required on a daily, weekly or monthly frequency. The cleaners are not asked to do anything they are not capable of doing, but by careful monitoring David ensures it is done regularly and properly. Another area in which the boss takes an active role is in Health & Safety. “This job is about getting the basics right, and there is nothing


more important than getting health and safety correct,” he says. David has a NEBOSH qualification and co-ordinates with Matt Dony as Health & Safety officer on site. Any near misses or accidents are reported on a daily basis and together they investigate these thoroughly and ensure any appropriate action is taken. The site has excellent road links into West Wales, where a lot


of customers are located, as well as into the Valleys and up into mid- Wales. “A motorway through the middle of Wales would be very nice, but I don’t think we’re going to see that anytime soon!” says David. Nevertheless, the Heads of the Valleys road is currently being given a major upgrade, while there are good A roads already to the west, to the southwest down towards Pembroke Dock, and to the east onto the M4 towards Bristol. Fully a third of raw material brought into the mill is backfilled onto delivery vehicles which, once they have delivered on farm are able to call in at Avonmouth and Pembroke Dock to be loaded with ingredients which the trading department at Llansantffraid has purchased and is stored at those ports. Head office has access to whatever is being produced at


Carmarthen with process control being provided by Datastor. The traders can see what has been made and what raw materials have been used from wherever they are, and they can plan schedules around that information. Although the management team at Carmarthen do forecast on a weekly basis what they think they will need, this can change on a daily or even an hourly basis, depending on what the customer services team ask the control room team to make. One thing that has surprised David about the feed sector is just


how open and helpful it remains. He has been struck by how friendly it is as an industry, very quick to share ideas that can make operations more efficient and productive. “It was quite alien to me at first, coming from the automotive sector where you’re only as good as your last order. Within the feed industry there is a great network and a cross- fertilisation of ideas.” So while no doubt the feed industry can learn from other sectors, it seems that they can learn a bit from us as well.


PAGE 26 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 FEED COMPOUNDER


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