Kent Feeds – Mason, MI

“We had a truck driver come here for the first time not long ago,” recalls Dave Earl, plant manager at Kent Feeds’ 125-tpd feed mill in Mason, MI (517-676-9544). “He said that this was the cleanest place he’d ever been in.”

What particularly impressed Earl about the driver’s comments was that this was no brand new feed mill. The Mason plant was built by Muscatine-IA based Kent Nutrition Group back in 1989. It’s easy to keep a new plant clean; it’s a much bigger challenge over 33 years of operation.

“When we hire new employees, we train them on what we expect,” says Earl, who has been with the company for 32 years. “One thing we expect is that at the end of every shift, they clean the plant and take care of housekeeping.”

That plant-wide dedication to producing the best and safest possible product efficiently and ready to load earned the Mason facility honors as the 2021 Commercial Dry Feed Facility of the Year.

The award is sponsored by the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and Feedstuffs magazine. It was presented in January during the 2022 International Poultry and Production Expo in Atlanta, GA.

It’s not the first time a Kent Nutrition Group facility has taken top honors. Feed Mill of the Year awards went to Kent facilities in Rockford, IL in 2015 and 2003; Estherville, IA in 1996; Columbus, NE in 1990; and Altoona, IA in 1988.

Duke Tanguy, director of operations for the central region and 39-year Kent veteran, says his company has participated in the annual program since it began in 1985.

“They send out a questionnaire that’s 70 or 80 pages long, and they score you on that,” says Tanguy. “They look at safety, quality control and food safety, government compliance, housekeeping and facility appearance, productivity and efficiency, sustainability, employee development, and customer and consumer relations.

“Every November, AFIA sends out a team to the top three scorers to verify the information on the questionnaire,” Tanguy says. “But for 2021, we were informed that we were the only visit they made because our score was so far above everyone else.”

Continuous Improvement

The Mason plant’s output, according to Earl, is about 70% dairy feed, with the rest going for a variety of species from large animals such as beef to small animals such as rabbits and pets. That means constant production changeovers in the plant and a challenge to make sure formulations are correct.

As part of its program of continuous improvement, Kent in 2018 switched over the plant from an old mixing system installed when the plant was built to a Repete Mixing System produced by Repete Corp., Sussex, WI (262-246-4541).

The system allowed the plant to streamline its mixing process and put in place safeguards against human error. For example, a manufacturing run cannot proceed unless sequencing and flushing procedures are followed properly. The mixing crew utilizes bar codes and laser readers on hand-adds to make sure the correct ingredient is added to the mix in the right quantity. In addition, the system has traceability capabilities allowing each ingredient to be traced back to the supplier’s lot.

In addition to the Repete system, quality control also includes routine certification through AFIA’s Safe Feed/Safe Food program. Also, purchasing is done at a corporate level using a preferred supplier list, Tanguy notes.

Workplace safety. Safety extends to the workplace, as well. “We have a safety committee that meets quarterly,” says Earl. “Then we have monthly safety meetings in which everyone participates and signs off on an attendance sheet.”

Topics for monthly safety meetings are handed down from corporate headquarters. Typical topics, Earl says, might include industrial truck safety, bloodborne pathogens, lockout/tagout, fall protection, or ergonomics.

Win or lose, Earl adds, the AFIA/Feedstuffs awards program is helpful by providing participants with a scorecard to see where they are doing well compared to others in the industry or where improvements are needed.

The goal for 2022? A back-to-back win, the plant manager says.

Ed Zdrojewski, editor