Over the past few years, Anpario has made significant investments in its production plant located in Nottinghamshire, UK. In addition to investing in updating the plant and equipment, the company has implemented a company-wide enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which is fully integrated with the plant’s process control system.
The first stage started in 2013 with the installation of the automated mixing control software, enabling guaranteed accuracy of finished products. Since then, incremental improvements in onsite storage capacities, dedicated production lines and high-tech dust extraction systems have brought the company to this final stage of capital expenditure of £1M (US$1.22M), which will be spent on fully automating the packing lines with high-end machinery.
Operations Director Shane Bailey, who has been leading the project, says, “It’s been a real team effort getting this machinery in without disrupting production capabilities or affecting the high level of service we provide to our customers. This project has been achieved with the help of both the production and maintenance teams working around the clock to ensure the planned work was carried out on time.”
These upgrades future-proof the production facility by significantly increasing throughput potential. The production plant’s process control system is integrated with Anpario’s global ERP system. This means that when an order is placed in any one of the three subsidiaries--USA, China or Brazil--it will automatically generate a production order instruction in the UK plant in real time.
This new automated system makes the process quicker and cleaner, improving the quality of service. Anpario will also be able to keep up with the growing demand from customers, meeting large orders at short notice with a faster turnaround time.
