CONTINUOUS FLOW ROI CASE STUDY

A farm family—comprised of a father and four sons—worked with our team to transition from a traditional batch feed manufacturing system to a state-of-the-art, automated AGTRONIX® continuous flow system.

Challenges

• Keeping up with the demands of feed manufacturing and distribution
• A team of five full-time workers required, plus two delivery trucks

Solution

To help make this operation more streamlined and efficient, we collaborated with the family to design and implement a fully automated continuous flow feed system. This integrated solution included:

1. FeedPro® metering units: These units ensure precision in feed recipes, allowing for the creation of customized and accurately measured feeds. The FeedPro meters each ingredient into the flow of ingredients at specific, programmed weight and blend requirements.
    
2. LX 800: This system is designed to operate with the FeedPro family of stationary feed mixing products. The LX 800 simplifies the handling of micro and specialty ingredients by taking control of three important tasks:
    
   • Loading the correct amount of each micro-ingredient into the mixing chamber
   • Mixing the micro-ingredients into a homogenous blend
   • Metering the micro-ingredient blend accurately by weight into the flow of main ingredients (which are metered by the FeedPro metering units) to complete the desired mixture
3. Proprietary software: An integral part of the automation, this system orchestrates the entire feed manufacturing process with advanced control and monitoring capabilities.
    
4. Mills, augers, and storage bins: The incorporation of these components enables seamless processing, transportation, and storage of both raw materials and finished feed recipes. The Ruiter team manufactured and procured this equipment for the operation as part of our end-to-end process.

By utilizing FeedPro technology, this operation now achieves precise mixing with minimal labor and low equipment overhead costs. The automated system eliminated the need for five full-time employees, as it operates with minimal human intervention. The father, who now oversees the system, efficiently manages feed production concurrently with his delivery route, requiring only half a day to deliver all the feed.