Michael Meals Inc. (MFI) made a major leap in expertise in March 2024 with the opening of a state-of-the-art feed mill, designed to provide as much as 100 tons per hour of mash poultry feed, in Gaylord, Minnesota.
The century-old egg provider, based mostly in Hopkins, Minnesota, is the nation’s largest processor of value-added eggs, and was a acquired by Submit Holdings Inc. in 2014. It produces and processes eggs into liquid egg, dried egg, arduous cooked, client pre-packed and bulk merchandise.
Michael Meals’ farmers increase 9.7 million egg-laying hens yearly, based on WATTPoultry.com’s Prime Poultry Firms 2024 listing, making animal vitamin and feed effectivity a driving issue within the enterprise’ efficiency and output.
“We acknowledge that feed is a giant a part of total manufacturing, in addition to animal welfare, so all of it ties collectively,” mentioned Jeff Erickson, director and veterinarian, MFI. “As poultry genetics have improved and productiveness has elevated, we’ve realized increasingly more tips on how to finest meet hens’ wants, each nutritionally and environmentally.”
MFI’s poultry vitamin technique begins with utilizing high quality feed to optimize hen well being with zero use of hormones. Its employees veterinarians and poultry nutritionists design distinctive diets for his or her hens by customized tailoring for the age-specific wants of every flock.
The brand new feed mill performs a significant position in assembly these wants, producing 1,600 tons per week to serve three MFI farm websites. It changed two lately decommissioned MFI feed mills in Le Sueur, Minnesota, in addition to the unique feed mill on the expansive MFI complicated in Gaylord, consisting of layer barns, workplace buildings and a feed operations hub, together with a close-by processing plant.
Investments in mill automation, state-of-the-art mixers and grinders, and high-capacity conveying and materials dealing with gear elevated feed output by as much as 40 to 50 tons per hour in contrast with the 2 mills it changed. Moreover, key options had been included to deal with employee security, mud management, explosion prevention and biosecurity.
As MFI steps right into a digital period, the brand new Gaylord mill not solely displays development within the feed trade, however additionally units the stage for its future progress and effectivity.
The journey from outdated to new
The authentic feed mills in Gaylord and Le Sueur served MFI properly for many years. When the Gaylord mill was first constructed within the Eighties, it was cutting-edge — outfitted with one of the best expertise on the time. Nonetheless, because the poultry trade developed, so did the calls for for increased manufacturing and larger effectivity.
“Chickens right this moment produce round 80 extra eggs than they used to of their lifetime,” Erickson mentioned. “As we glance ahead, enhancements to genetics will solely proceed and result in manufacturing progress.”
The want for extra feed, plus to consolidate two mills’ output into one essential feed mill, drove the choice to broaden the footprint and assemble a brand new mill on the Gaylord web site. The challenge bid was awarded to EDM LLC, an engineering, design, development and millwright agency based mostly in Buffalo, Minnesota. Doug Eiden, president of EDM, led the hassle to satisfy Michael Meals’ high quality requirements and necessities for a protected, high-output feed mill meant to carry out for many years to come back.
The design section started in October 2022 and development crews broke floor in June 2023. Collaboration between EDM and Michael Meals all through the next months ensured a profitable completion forward of the scheduled timeline.
“By March 2024, the brand new mill was manufacturing its first feed batches, and as soon as the facility was on board, the transition out of the outdated mill happened shortly over the next few weeks,” Eiden mentioned. “Constructing the brand new feed mill whereas preserving their present one at full capability — with solely minimal manufacturing interruptions — resulted in preserving Michael Meals’ feed operations operating easily.”
Reused sources built-in with new upgrades
To protect sources and reduce disruptions throughout development, MFI repurposed a few of the authentic mill’s infrastructure within the new design. Incorporating the adjacently situated grain storage bins permits the brand new feed mill to attract from present storage bin with out extra conveyors or switch techniques.
Whereas the unique mill has ceased milling feed, it wasn’t absolutely razed or deserted fully. Its warehouse constructing serves as a brand new gear and elements storage shed, and a bigger receiving system was put in to extend entire corn receiving from barely 5,000 bushels per hour to fifteen,000 bushels per hour. In the meantime, the brand new mill elevated smooth components, equivalent to dried distillers grain with solubles (DDGs) and soybean meal, receiving capability to 180 tons per hour.
Alongside with different new mill enhancements, like a 100-ton-per-hour mixing leg and a 60-ton-per-hour grinding leg, it’s operating at 50 to 60 tons per hour of feed output. Nonetheless, it was designed to offer larger output with potential future growth, together with house so as to add one other curler mill together with extra ingredient and loadout bins. The ability has a roughly 7,000-square-foot warehouse with a push-back racking system that elevated bagged ingredient storage capability from 40 pallets to 140-plus pallet areas.
This strategy permits MFI to proceed to adapt to market circumstances, enhance product buying energy and suppleness with new and extra components, and the potential to feed extra hens sooner or later.
A leap in expertise and effectivity
Gannon Grochow, feed mill supervisor, MFI, witnessed firsthand the transformation from the outdated to the brand new. Having labored at each amenities, Grochow mentioned the brand new mill supplies quite a few benefits, together with vital technological upgrades.
“This is the brains of the operation,” Grochow mentioned concerning the mill’s management heart. The room is supplied with 4 laptop screens and several other cameras that handle all the operation by way of the automation sitting at one desk station.
“All the pieces is managed with these screens, from transport and receiving to the grinding and batching processes, even loading out vehicles,” Grochow mentioned. “All in just a few clicks of a pc mouse.”
In the previous, guide processes required feed mill operators to deal with each step, from corn and ingredient receiving to adjusting distributors and remembering particular bin configurations. It was a labor-intensive course of with the potential for errors. Grochow mentioned a misstep may ship the unsuitable ingredient to the unsuitable bin, or plug the gear with materials, inflicting delays.
Immediately, its automation system practically eliminates such dangers. The NexGen batching and automation system by Straightforward Automation Inc. not solely directs operators to the right bins, but in addition locks them out of incorrect ones, and options high-bin-level alerts to remove overfilling bins.
Facility automation additionally drastically reduces the complexity of coaching new workers. As Brady Gaalswyk, co-president of Straightforward Automation Inc., mentioned: “When somebody will get used to doing a guide course of, it turns into second nature, however coaching somebody on the nuances of these processes will be troublesome. With automation, it’s extra self-explanatory. As an alternative of getting to recollect steps, the system does it for you.”
The new system gives a excessive degree of integration and knowledge accuracy, with all scale tickets generated by the automated grain receiving kiosk tied immediately into MFI’s enterprise useful resource planning (ERP) system. This ensures real-time knowledge updates and reduces guide entry errors, dashing up the accounting course of.
By the time vehicles end dumping, the system has already logged the ticket and up to date the stock, permitting real-time administration of provide chains and ingredient ordering.
The mill’s feed operation hub additionally remotely controls a feed distribution heart in Le Sueur. MFI hauls 30-ton a great deal of completed feed 18 miles east of Gaylord, and operators within the Gaylord management room can change and regulate routes to the vacation spot bins there and to the ultimate supply at poultry barns.
Enhanced particle dimension management
MFI’s grinding capabilities had been additionally upgraded with new gear and automation. To realize higher management over particle sizing, they changed their outdated mill’s hammer mills with an RMS Curler-Grinder curler mill, able to processing 28 to 30 tons per hour of corn at 1,200 microns, with limitless potential for various grinds — a essential consider poultry feed. The mill is designed for 2 curler mills, so MFI can add one when wanted.
Grochow demonstrated the convenience of adjusting grind dimension with just some clicks on the RMS Curler-Grinder AccuGap management panel, a stark distinction to the guide changes that had been beforehand required.
“As an alternative of utilizing instruments to function the grinder, it’s all achieved on a touchpad,” Grochow mentioned. “This system can retailer as much as 16 recipes, and as our nutritionists require completely different grinds based mostly on fowl age, life stage, and so on., they may discover they want new recipes. Now we are able to change a recipe with out worrying if somebody turned the wrench the unsuitable quantity. It’s all digital and protected, decreasing the chance of human error and preserving individuals away from operating gear.”
Milling overview and enhancements
If the management room is the brains of the operation, the milling room is the muscle. Its 6-ton Scott Tools Co. dual-ribbon mixers work in tandem to end a batch in 3 to five minutes, relying on formulation and recipes.
The milling room contains 24 overhead bins — 20 ingredient bins and 4 floor corn bins — with a complete capability of 40,100 cubic ft, and three main scales and three minor scales. All six scales work directly to enhance batching effectivity and are able to weighing up all components in lower than 3 minutes for a 6-ton batch.
In the warehouse, the 12-bin micro system and 12 totes guarantee increased accuracy for smaller inclusions, enhancing the general course of. The tote bag system can maintain 12 tremendous sack totes.
The transition from small containers to bigger totes improves employee security and effectivity, decreasing the necessity to elevate 40- to 50-pound baggage constantly throughout the day. Now they place an excellent sack tote by forklift, and the sacks don’t require changing for as much as per week, in some instances.
Loadout improve
The design and development of the brand new feed mill options eight feed load-out bins with Cleveland vibrators, and two DSH (Mud Suppression Hoppers) techniques by Sioux Metal Co.
4 bins have a 30-ton capability and 4 have a 15-ton capability. This permits MFI larger flexibility when loading supply vehicles. Various sizes and capacities of the feed demand at hen barns creates the necessity to ship partial feed hundreds at occasions.
Erickson mentioned ultimately they could think about plans for a conveyance system to ship feed to the barns situated on-site, eliminating the necessity for vehicles on the farm. Whereas exploration of such plans received’t occur quickly, MFI expects to proceed investing in Gaylord long run because the demand for egg continues to develop.
The brand new Gaylord feed mill isn’t just a substitute for the outdated; it’s a step into the longer term, guaranteeing that MFI stays a frontrunner within the trade for years to come back. With its new Gaylord feed mill now operational, MFI is properly positioned to satisfy the calls for of the longer term with superior automation, elevated capability and built-in growth capabilities to adapt to altering wants.
