This is the time when dairy sector is shifting to commercially produced pelleted feed to provide balanced and nutritious feed to their animals sector and poultry sector is consolidating in the form of integration, which presents the huge opportunity.
Could you tell our readers something about your company,Andritz Group and its activities in India?
Well, Andritz Group is an Austrian company of worth 5.5 Billion Euro, with a work force of 20000+ which has its 39 manufacturing units spread globally.
In India, the company has been active since the last 8 years and is registered under the brand name: Andritz Technologies Pvt. Ltd. It is operating in following verticals:
1. Feed and Biofuel
2. Hydropower
3. Pulp & Paper
4. Metals
5. Separation
Feed and Biofuel Divisions are being operated from Chennai office, which also takes care of Sri Lanka and Nepal markets.
What are the new projects that are expected to be pursued by Andritz Technologies in near future? Especially, in the feed section, which of these three areas viz. Poultry, Cattle, Aqua feeds is going to be the main thrust area of your activity. Could you also list these in the order of priority?
Andritz Technologies is playing a leading role in animal feed sector especially in Poultry & Cattle feed projects. Lot of projects are being handled in biofuel sector also. Andritz Technologies is in fact, a pioneer Aqua Feed equipments manufacturing company worldwide. However, in India the company entered very late and missed the boat, so we haven’t started our account yet.
Poultry and Cattle feed industries are equally important for Andritz Technologies. In terms of number of plants, poultry business takes the lead and in terms of volume & business generation, though cattle feed business is also developing fast.
Below are the some of the recent projects accomplished by Andritz Technologies in India:
Poultry Projects:
1. Turnkey project for Venketeshwara Hatcheries near Coimbatore.
2. First-of-its-kind poultry plant equipped with expended pellets for Vangili Feeds near Bangalore.
3. Two projects for Skylark in Bihar, India as well as in Nepal also.
Dairy Projects:
1. 20 TPH of Poultry & Cattle Feed 2. State-of-the-art project for Amul of 800 TPD expandable up to 1600 TPD with an investment of INR 200 crore.
Flat storage system for storage is the latest innovation (modern technology) being adopted for Amul in India.
What makes Andritz Technologies different from its competitors in the market? Is it the technology difference or, are there some other factors?
There are many factors which make customers to choose our company. Some of the positives offered by our company are as follows:
1. Optimized project cost
2. Energy efficient plants
3. Turnkey masters
4. Customer support (with regard to all utilities)
5. Strong commissioning &engineering team
We provide GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY WITH LOCAL SERVICE.
Please share your personal experience of 4 years that you have spent with Andritz Technologies. How do you find it different from your previous experience with Suguna Foods.
In my previous company i.e. Suguna Foods, I joined as an electrical supervisor at very lower cadre. However, with time, I got the opportunity to work in all segments of the projects, viz. hatcheries, farms, processing plants and feed plants, and gained sufficient experience in all these areas.
For the last 4 years, I have been associated with Andritz Technologies, mainly to set up state-of-the-art feed plants in the country. Before my joining the concern, the total number of projects installed by the company was 13, and within the short time span of 3 & 1/2 year Andritz Technologies has now emerged as no. 1 supplier of feed plant machinery on turnkey basis in India, having supplied 45+ pelleting plants throughout the country so far.
Well, you can say, the kind of role I play now is just reversal of what I did during the previous job. Earlier my job was to arrange the setting up of plants for my company, and now I am on supplier side. I find similarity is in the work environment between the two companies, getting great support from seniors and mentors in both the companies.
What is the secret behind Andritz Technologies becoming the leading choice of feed industry the world over?
Well, our present customers are market leaders and they are referring us to prospective customers. We, at Andritz, are following simple basic principle of keeping our present customers satisfied and happy with our services.
How do you compare the challenges and opportunities between developing market like India to that of the developed markets?
India is a developing market wherein huge gap exists between supply and demand. If we go by the present rate of annual milk production in India i.e. 132 MMT of milk, the country needs a minimum of 1 kg of feed/l of milk produced. However, India’s cattle feed production in pellet form is only 10 MMT/ annum, where as the present need is roughly 40-45 MMT of pellet feed. Since bulk of cattle feed given to dairy animals in India comes from unorganized sector, and it is time that the dairy owners shift to commercially produced pelleted feed to provide balanced and Animal nutrition feed.
In case of Poultry feed, 65% of the sector is unorganized. Now poultry sector is consolidating in the form of integration, which again presents the huge opportunity.
The challenge is to bring the technology being adopted in developed market to India. Andritz Technologies is already doing it in various projects like Flat storage solution technology provided to Amul, supply Post-pelleting application in Poultry projects, Opti-grinding instead of hammer mill, Expandate pelleting application, Twin paddle mixing system etc.
Andritz Technologies aims to provide low energy pelleting plant with high production output.
Where do you see Indian feed industry 10 years down the line?
10 years down the line most of the feed plants will be matching the global standards.
We already have few, like Suguna Feed plant in Hyderabad and Bangalore, cattle feed plant in Banas Dairy, Vangili Feeds in poultry etc. I feel by 2020, India will be producing best quality feed with low production-energy or operational cost.
