ADM grows US feed, premix production capacity
Expansion projects include a completed, new animal feed mill in Glencoe, Minnesota and ongoing work to upgrade and expand a facility in Effingham, Illinois to generate several products including livestock premixes and specialty feed ingredients, said the company.
Both initiatives also are seeking to improve efficiency and optimize processing technology, said Mark Stephens, director, strategic initiatives at ADM Animal Nutrition.
“The Effingham facility will enable us to expand the [number of] customers we serve due to the efficiencies we will gain at the new plant,” he told FeedNavigator. “It will also help us more efficiently meet and exceed the ever-increasing industry standards for pet foods and requirements stemming from the Food Safety Modernization Act.”
Minnesota details
The just-opened Glencoe location will allow for speed in time market and quality in terms of its existing product portfolio.
The site will enable additional storage of finished, bagged feeds, which is expected to improve ADM’s ability to deliver product to its customers, he said. Construction on the site started in 2015.
The site has an annual capacity of about 100,000 tons with 30,000 square feet of warehouse space along with 21 bulk ingredient bins and 28 finished feed bins, The facility also uses a patented cold-pelleting system to generate consistent products.
“The speed of mixing is improved in the new facility, and we now have automated micro bins for better scaling of ingredients and improved product quality,” said Stephens. “The facility also has a robotic bagger and stacker to streamline those processes.”
The location was selected as the company had past experience with the area, he said. “We had an existing plant there in an established market with a capable, dedicated workforce, so Glencoe made a lot of sense when we were looking at potential areas to expand,” he added.
However, it was not designed to meet only the needs of producers in Minnesota, he said. It is also set to provide service for north central Iowa, southeastern South Dakota and northeastern Nebraska.
“We will be able to serve all of the feed markets in the surrounding areas to the plant: dairy, swine, beef, wildlife and game birds,” he said. “We’ll also be able to produce products for retail locations and farm stores.”
Illinois project
The new facility is being constructed in a 284,000 square foot warehouse space and is replacing three current facilities in the area.
In addition to specialty ingredients and livestock premixes, it will be used to produce pet food and related products, the company said.
Construction on the project is set to start this summer, said Stephens. It is set to open in late 2017 or early 2018, added ADM.
“The new facility will expand our production capacity and enhance the efficiency of our operations,” Stephens said of the technology upgrades. “It will use cutting-edge technology to meet customer needs including: automation within receiving, batching, packaging and loadout; multiline batching with simultaneous weighing and metal detection and protection from receiving to packaging.”
