A big blue and white sign marks the entrance to Sanderson Farms’ feed mill in Collins, MS (601-765-4143), and proudly states that this is the home of the American Feed Industry Association’s (AFIA) and Feedstuffs magazine’s 2017 Feed Facility of the Year.
For Feed Mill Manager Bill Bray, who has held the position for five years since leaving a management position in the lumber industry, the award is confirmation that a teamwork-focused attitude gets results.
He says that all of the facility’s 15 employees are trained and capable of doing more than just what’s in their job descriptions. “We try to empower people. We don’t care about job titles here,” says Bray, “just about getting the job done. “When you empower people and give them greater responsibility, they take pride in their work.”
Thirty-Third Feed Facility of the Year
Sanderson Farms’ Collins facility is the 33rd winner of the annual industry award and the second winner since the program was redesigned in 2016.
Under this new format, AFIA gives awards to facilities in several categories, as well as an overall winner, which is announced in late January at the International Production & Processing Expo in Atlanta, GA.
The 2017 category winners include:
Safety First, Production Second
“My most important responsibility is the safety of the team; everything else is secondary,” says Bray. To keep people safe, the Collins team tries to prevent what he calls “upset conditions,” which are situations outside of the routine of normal production hours, such as a major breakdown or something that puts production off schedule. “People don’t get hurt when everything in the plant is running likes it’s supposed to,” he explains. “They get hurt when they feel rushed or their behavior is altered in some way.”
To prevent upset conditions, the team performs maintenance every weekend, which leads to less downtime during production hours and fewer major breakdowns. Feed Mill Supervisor Matthew McNair keeps the facility’s maintenance room stocked with parts, so the team is always ready to fix a breakdown as quickly as possible.
On the other hand, Bray says the Collins team undergoes extensive safety training. “We have a companywide safety program that requires training monthly, quarterly, and yearly, but that’s just the bare minimum we do,” he explains.
Product Quality
The Collins facility produces more than 400,000 tons of poultry feed each year. As one of Sanderson Farms’ eight feed mills, the facility processes 455 acres worth of corn each day. It also serves as the grain delivery point for the company’s Laurel, MS facility.
“We review a variety of metrics daily, weekly, quarterly, and annually to maximize efficiency and maintain or increase performance,” says Bray. “These metrics include inbound ingredient specifications, ingredient moisture, mixer analysis on specified ingredients, weekly tons of feed produced, labor costs, feed conversion rates, utility usage and performance, and delivery costs.”
Reprinted from Grain Journal March/April 2018 Issue