AFIA kickstarts contest for US commercial dry feed facility of the year
The initiative is open to all AFIA member commercial dry feed manufacturing facilities.
The organization wants to highlight the commercial dry facilities nationwide that exceed expectations in their commitment to ensuring safe and efficient operations, said Gary Huddleston, AFIA’s director of feed manufacturing and regulatory affairs.
“This is a great opportunity to recognize those who go above and beyond.”
Deadline
Submissions, with the $100 application fee, are due by September 15.
The winning facility will be announced on January 31, 2024, at the AFIA’s Feed Education Program, held in conjunction with the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, Georgia.
The AFIA has been recognizing excellent feed manufacturing facilities since 1985. In 2016, it created four distinct manufacturing categories to be more inclusive of the various industry facilities. In 2021, the FFY program separated each category into its own individual program: liquid feed, commercial dry, premix and ingredient, and integrator, with each category having its own facility of the year award.
Previous winners
The Kent Nutrition Group’s feed manufacturing facility in Marshall, Missouri took the trophy last year in the commercial dry feed category. That plant produces about 52,000 tons of multi-species feed annually.
In their efforts toward continuous improvement, the team at that facility installed a pellet mill automation system a few years ago, which it said has allowed the plant to streamline its mixing process and put in place safeguards to reduce opportunities for human error, such as proceeding with a manufacturing run if the sequencing and flushing procedures are not properly followed.
The semi-finalists in 2022 were Kent Nutrition Group (KNG) of Mason, Michigan, Belstra Milling of DeMotte, Indiana, and Western Milling of Goshen, California.
