Bühler, Halverson partner to streamline feed, food facility construction

21-Oct-2019 - Last updated on 21-Oct-2019 at 07:45 GMT

To streamline feed mill, grain and flour mill design and construction along with expanding services in the western US, Bühler Group and Halverson Company are establishing a partnership.

The Utah-based building company and Swiss-based feed and food production and milling equipment company announced that they had developed an agreement focused on the western part of the US.

Halverson is a design-build company focused on the agricultural industry, typically designs and builds linked to grain storage, feed mills, and flour milling, said Steve Halverson, CEO with Halverson Company. The company operates in multiple states in the western US including Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.

“We specialize in terms of construction,” he told FeedNavigator. “We don’t manufacture equipment and that’s where our relationship with Bühler is high value to us.”

The agreement means that going forward Halverson will represent Bühler in regards to promoting and selling machines for the feed milling industry, a spokesperson for Bühler said.

“This applies to all feed milling facilities, both existing and new builds. As a full-service design-build millwright company, Halverson has the experience and technical knowledge to sell and support a variety of feed milling solutions providing their customers with the best options and incredible service," said the representative of the Swiss group.

The construction company provides local expertise, and enables increased turnaround time and support for deliveries and feed milling, the spokesperson said. “With a partner like Halverson, regional customer support is delivered in a timely manner,” he said.

The partnership reflects a new structure at Bühler intended to expand the company’s single machine portfolio through partnerships, added the Bühler spokesperson.

The agreement was of interest to Halverson because both companies share a similar perspective about developing relationships with clients, said Halverson.

He said Bühler understands the process and what equipment is required, but they might not necessarily have the expertise in relation to what infrastructure would be required, the road access needed for the facility, along with the utilities required and all the other aspects of a build: "That’s where we can provide value to the process.”

“We don’t manufacture equipment,” he added. “So we reach out to partners to find out how much equipment costs run when we’re trying to create a facility to meet a client’s needs, but, working hand-in-hand we can provide a more accurate picture of what things would cost.”

Streamlining feed mill construction

The arrangement with Bühler is part of an effort focused on improving sustainability and reducing the carbon footprint of feed and agricultural industry facility design and construction, said Halverson.

The partners are trying to "identify ways to drive waste out of the whole system, not just the manufacturing environment or the construction environment, but the start-to-finish process,” he said.

Bühler and the University of Illinois

In addition to work with Halverson, Bühler announced on Monday [October 14] that it was donating more than $1m in feed milling, mixing, grinding and pelleting equipment to the University of Illinois for the university’s new feed mill complex.

The donation will reportedly make Bühler the primary supplier of grain and feed processing equipment for the Feed Technology Center, according to university information.

The upcoming site, which broke ground earlier this year, will use a Bühler multi-channel, inline NIR system to assess the feed ingredient composition and quality in real-time, the university said.

“The animal industry is experiencing a digital transformation,” said Rodney Johnson, head of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois in a statement. “Our new Feed Technology Center, equipped with Bühler’s newest technology in feed production, will facilitate research that enables real-time decision making to enhance diet quality and production efficiency.

“The partnership with Bühler aligns perfectly with our push into the precision animal management space and our newly established joint degree with computer science,” he added.