The suite comprises a new quality control laboratory as well as an external customer laboratory service, sample preparation area and a refurbished office and meeting space.
The company said the investment advances its in-house capabilities in quality assurance, quality control and laboratory analysis.
Mary Stevenson, quality manager at Trouw Nutrition Ireland, told us the outlay was the first of three “key spend areas” as part of a six-figure investment.
“These facilities enable us to assure the highest levels of product quality from our production operations. The laboratory service is open to our local feed industry customers and offers feed and forage analysis.”
The animal nutrition producer supplies farmers, feed producers and feed distributors across the island of Ireland.
Infrastructure boost
In January, Trouw Nutrition Ireland confirmed that considerable financial outlay was planned to increase the company’s growth in the year ahead. The ongoing investments would be on top of £2m (US$2.45m) spent in recent years to contribute towards modernising its premix mill located on Ship Street, Belfast.
The investments, it added, would be a turning point for the Irish operations, allowing the business to continue to achieve a steadfast goal of developing sustainable practices throughout its supply chain and enhancing its staff and infrastructure.
Green energy, environmental footprint
The company outlined how its Belfast mill is now powered by 100% green energy and how the Irish business intends to transition its entire fleet of vehicles to renewable fuel within the next three years. It has also reduced its plastic usage by 10%, which it has pledged will increase to 25% over the next year.
“One of our key goals is to focus on inclusivity by continuously growing our teams’ leadership skills at all levels. We will also progress the uptake of pioneering technologies to measure the environmental footprint of animal feedstuffs and milk feeding habits such as FeedPrint and MilkPrint,” said Aidan Fisher, general manager of Trouw Nutrition Ireland, at the start of this year.
