Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Automation in LIVESTOCK FEED MANUFACTURING

It is not just the maize mixed with vitamins supplements and other grains, the feed mill manufacturing is a scientific process enabled by the different automation at the machinery level. The technology matrix can be depicted as per table below:

Process
Automation/Technology
Material Receipt at Gate
Electronic Weigh Bridge
Quality check of the material
Different equipment for key parameters
Storage of the Material
Electronic Silos & Pallet based warehouses
Batching
Scada Based Machines
Milling
Scada Based Machines
Pre Mix
Scada Based Machines
Mixing
Scada Based Machines
Pelleting
Scada Based Machines
Cooling
Scada Based Machines
Packing
Scada Based Machines
Storage
Bar Code/ Batch Printing
Quality
Different equipment for key parameters
Dispatch
Electronic Weigh Bridge

This technology matrix helps millers in improving the manufacturing process efficiency. The real challenge or competitive edge is to address the business issue pertaining to the process leakages such as revenue loss, poor purchase planning, unstructured purchase process etc.  These process challenges can overcome by the use of  “ERP- Enterprise Resource Planning” Applications.  An ERP is a software which tightly integrates all business functions across value chain along with core finance & accounting. The process cycle post ERP will look like:

Process
Automation/Technology
ERP Benefits
Purchase Cycle
ERP
Automated Approval
Purchase Price History

Material Receipt at Gate
Electronic Weigh Bridge
Integration with the Purchase Order & Warehouse
Quality check of the material
Different equipment for key parameters
Integration with Purchase Order
Centralized test reports
Storage of the Material
Electronic Silos & Pallet based warehouses
Integration with Finance, Purchase
Lot wise tracking
Shelf life etc.
Purchase/Production Planning
ERP
Integrated purchase/production plan based on the planned consumption
Production Execution
ERP
Planned production order to shop floor for better execution
Batching
Scada Based Machines
Each Production batch can have different mix as per the quality. Hence you can keep history.
Integration with the SCADA of the ERP, help in keeping formulations secure & confidential.
Storage of the pre mix as per the specification & desired locations

Milling
Scada Based Machines
Pre Mix
Scada Based Machines
Mixing
Scada Based Machines
Pelleting
Scada Based Machines
Cooling
Scada Based Machines
Packing
Scada Based Machines
Storage
Bar Code/ Batch Printing
Helps in providing complete tracking of the Bar Code or Batch
Quality
Different equipment for key parameters

Sales
ERP
Sales Order Booking as per pre-defined price matrix
Approval for the deviations
Dispatch
Electronic Weigh Bridge
A control on the price & quantity
Finance & Accounting
ERP
Complete accounting cycle like GL, AP, AR, Fixed Assets, Banks
AP/AR Aging
Cash Flows
Management Dashboards
Cost & Profit Analysis


As you can visualize from above picture that you can achieve a complete automation in the livestock feed manufacturing by using the effective machine automation along with the ERP software. A process efficiency yields good results across the complete value chain helping organizations to focus on the growth.