January 11, 2011

Centurion Poultry chooses Pas Reform for new single stage hatchery

Centurion Poultry Inc., the second largest producer of commercial egg layer chicks in the US, is building a new 18 million capacity single-stage hatchery in the State of Iowa, with hatchery technologies from Pas Reform in The Netherlands.

Headquartered in Lexington, Georgia, Centurion Poultry's Commercial Layer Division holds about 25% of replacement chicks for the egg layer market in the US, mainly with the BOVANS and DEKALB brands. Since its inception in 1991, the company has grown steadily, to incorporate satellite operations in Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Plans to invest in a new hatchery are in response to increased market demand for the Company's day old layer pullets in the Mid-West.

With completion planned next year, the new Iowa hatchery will comprise of 28 SmartSetProâ„¢ setters and 24 SmartHatchProâ„¢ hatchers. With an annual production capacity of 18 million day-old pullets, this will make it one of the largest layer hatcheries in the US. Floor plan layout has been designed to accommodate a doubling of capacity, with a further 28 setters and 24 hatchers incorporated into the setup.

Pas Reform's HVAC system will deliver bacterial and fungal filtration, pressure control in all hatchery production rooms, and planning for optimised hygiene in the flow of eggs and chicks throughout the new facility. Microban^® hatcher baskets add a further layer of protection against contaminants. The HVAC system also includes a Total Heat Recovery system (THR) - a first in the US - to recover and re-use the heat produced in some of the incubation processes for other hatchery requirements.

According to Gijs Schimmel, Pas Reform's SmartProâ„¢ was selected after rigid screening and field visits to many different Smart-enabled hatcheries worldwide. He commented, "Advances in layer genetics produce eggs that are increasingly difficult to hatch. In looking for a single stage solution that could produce superior chick quality, we believe that SmartProâ„¢'s unique combination of modular design, Vortexâ„¢-based airflow and Adaptive Metabolic Feedbackâ„¢, has a significant effect on day old chick quality."

Steve Hilleson, Centurion's project manager for the new hatchery, adds: "After  touring hatcheries that are using Pas Reform incubation equipment, seeing their production facilities in The Netherlands and interacting with their technical Staff,  I  was very impressed with the quality of the product and with the professionalism of Pas Reform's people."

Bouke Hamminga, Pas Reform's Director of International Sales & Business Development,  Pas Reform, concludes: "With the introduction of the new SmartProâ„¢ series, we have taken an exciting step forward in the US, to meet a forward-looking market, receptive to new advances such as Adaptive Metabolic Feedbackâ„¢ (AMFâ„¢), Energy Saving Module (ESM), and the incorporation of Microban^® into our products.

"The Centurion project places us solidly in the USA's hatchery industry, with many opportunities for development and growth and the formation of new partnerships in this dynamic and important market," he said.