From ingredient weigh-up times to equipment optimization, learn how to identify and resolve the four most common bottlenecks hampering feed mill productivity and performance. In this Feed Strategy Chat, Easy Automation Co-president Brady Gaalswyk shares his tips for keeping feed production flow moving efficiently.
Transcription of interview with Brady Gaalswyk, co-president, Easy Automation
Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief, WATT feed brands: Hello everyone, welcome to Feed Strategy Chat. I'm your host, Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief of WATT feed brands.
This edition of Feed Strategy Chat is brought to you by the 2025 Feed Mill of the Future Conference. The half-day event will bring together leading feed industry experts to examine emerging feed mill technologies poised to impact animal feed manufacturing. It will be held on January 28 at the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) 2025. The conference, produced by Feed Strategy and Feed & Grain, is organized in partnership with the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA).
To learn more about the 2025 edition of the Feed Mill of the Future Conference, visit www.feedmillofthefuture.com.
Today we’re joined by Brady Gaalswyk, co-president of Easy Automation. He’s here to offer some tips for improving feed mill efficiency.
Hi Brady. How are you today?
Brady Gaalswyk, co-president, Easy Automation: Good morning, Jackie. Thanks for having me.
Roembke: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. Now let's get right into it. When feed manufacturers want to improve the efficiency of their operation, where do you typically suggest they begin the process?
Gaalswyk: We suggest that you start at the heart of the facility, which would be the batching process. The reason for this is because it has the biggest overall impact — not only on overall efficiency — but output as well, impacting accuracy and quality of feed. So that's where I would start the overall evaluation.
Roembke: Where do you typically tend to see bottlenecks?
Gaalswyk: From our experience, the four most common bottlenecks in feed mills include the ingredient weigh-up time and accuracy; equipment optimization; rolling and grinding systems; as well as the load-out process.
To dive into that a little bit more, the ingredient weigh-up time compounds not only each batch, but day-after-day facilities, but also has an impact on the overall quality. Fine tuning this just a little bit, 10 seconds, 20 seconds, can have a big impact in the facility.
Equipment optimization is overall looking at the facility and saying, “is my equipment properly paired with my automation?” and not only speed and accuracy, but also to making sure the equipment is operating in a way that's safe for it to operate, and does it impact, you know, needing additional maintenance?
Rolling and grinding systems — is there product available and ready to batch that has already been ground and ready to go? And are all those bins being kept full? And the grind quality as well, and overall particle size and ensuring that is for high-quality product — and ultimately animal health.
And then finally, the load-out process, which is this dance between facility optimization — what feed can we make the fastest? Truck optimization — what truck is back? Customer demands — who needs feed the worst?
All those kinds of pressures come together at once while making sure the exact formula that was made in an accurate way is putting the right load-out bin and then put in the right truck compartment and kept independent all the way along.
Roembke: You mentioned these four stages of the production process. Why do we typically see these issues there?
Gaalswyk: Yeah, so you know, one of the most common reasons why we see these issues today is from overall turnover and just people thinking that “this is the way that we've always done it,” or “this is just the way our facility runs,” or “I can't help it. I'm trying to, but this is just the way it is.”
You know, many years ago, maybe they had a problem one day that they made an adjustment or made a change to get through the day, and they didn't go back and try to fix that adjustment, or then compound that with employee turnover.
Maybe that problem happened two years ago, and they changed it, and they got through the day, kept on going. Now you have a new employee that has no clue of why it was ever changed, or even if it was ever changed. Just, this is just the way he was trained to do it.
Once in a while, really polish the system, dive into it, and get a good look at what's possible. You can say, "OK, is my engine fully optimized? Is it running at its peak efficiency?”
The next level is then trying to get another 10% or 20% out of the facility. “Should we look at maybe even small capital decisions that can make a huge impact?”
Roembke: Excellent. Well, thanks for that insight. Now, I saw a statistic that said that ingredient weigh-up time can result in up to 730 lost hours per year. Can you please provide an example of how something like that could be addressed.
Gaalswyk: First off, let's just say that 730 lost hours per year seems too drastic to be a true number. I mean, that facility must be running horrendous if you're really losing that many hours per year. How could not that just be obvious?
Ultimately, though, again, going back to the batching and how it has such a big impact with many batches every single hour, that even 30 seconds, or 20 seconds, per batch can really compound over the course of those hours, days, weeks and throughout the course of the year. Then 730 hours of loss could actually be found in a pretty well-run facility, compared to a perfectly run facility, and there are changes that can be made. How to go about this is ultimately taking a high-level overview and determining if the batching process is the bottleneck and what we're waiting on from there.
Diving down to each individual scale. If you have one scale, two scales, six scales, identifying which scale is taking the longest, and not only on one formula, but trying to use that 80-20 rule — or 80% of the feed we make, how can we further optimize it? Is it needing to add additional scales? Is it simply needing to change up what ingredients are being weighed up on individual scales and making sure that's all fine-tuned from there going down to the ingredient itself?
Looking at each individual scale. How long is each individual ingredient being weighed up? And is it being weighed up accurately at the same time? The common misconception is, the last ingredient on the last scale, they say, “oh, that's, for sure, my bottleneck, that's what we're waiting on, but there's nothing we can do.” That could ultimately just be a compounded effect of, maybe, the first ingredient was actually the one that was not being weighed up efficiently or fast enough. Kind of drill down into that, ingredient by ingredient, and seeing what the system is waiting on.
This can even really change depending on formulations, seasons, overall, what ingredients you use. So maybe the system was fully optimized for a certain set of ingredients or formulations, but now you're adding twice as much of this ingredient on a consistent basis in formulas, and we should put it in a different bin. Maybe we need to change the auger. Maybe we need to make some other adjustments to kind of help ebb and flow and help fully optimize the facility.
Roembke: Great. Now, are there any emerging technologies that you have on your radar that you believe will address some of these bottleneck issues now or further down the road?
Gaalswyk: Like many other industries, artificial intelligence has presented some opportunities for the feed mill industry with our software being able to collect so much data and all the different things that it's controlling. The key impact is going to be trying to take that data and boil it down to actionable decision-making items.
Not only do we need to help boil it down, but we deliver this information in a way that's easily accessible for feed mill managers, as well as in a way that's easy for them to understand. So maybe that's AI and specifically telling you what your problem is. Or maybe that is a dashboard showing trend lines and just overall comparisons between meals or between days, helping to identify these bottlenecks or these issues.
You know, as technology continues to evolve and time progresses, that's something we're looking at more and more on how what makes sense now, what should be developed in the future, and how can we keep on the cutting edge of the industry.
Roembke: Excellent. Thank you so much for those insights. Now, if you would like to hear more from Brady on some of the things we discussed here today, and you'll be at IPPE 2025, consider joining us at the Feed Mill of the Future Conference where Brady will be speaking on this topic. The event is held on January 28, 2025. For more information about the feed mill of the Future Conference, please visit www.feedmillofthefuture.com.
Thank you so much, Brady, and thanks to you for tuning in.
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