BOCM PAULS has announced it will spend more than £1.5 milion during the next 12 months to upgrade and expand the manufacturing, handling and storage facilities at its Bury St Edmunds feed mill. The move is aimed at increasing output and efficiency.
The improvements mean that the Bury mill will have a production capacity in excess of 200,000t/year. The plant, which is part of the ForFarmers group, will be the largest speciality feed production unit of its kind in Europe and the leading supplier of creep, early grower and link feeds for pigs.
Operations manager Ketill Lord said the upgrades and improvements to the creep and compound plants would increase output, while additional process weighers and more carousels would reduce the amount of handling. This work should be completed by autumn 2013.
Replacement of the pelleting press and associated feeding and conditioning plant will give higher output and greater efficiency, and will also be completed by the autumn.
Extending the products storage building and the installation of new bulk storage bins would increase storage capacity by about 600t, while loading times will be reduced by the installation of an additional computer-controlled weighbridge.
“We need to cater for farmers taking larger loads of feed and speed up the turnaround time to maximise efficiency and reduce costs for hauliers and our own flee,” Mr Lord said.