March 1, 2023

 

EW Nutrition: "Customer First" takes precedence for business

In 2020, the COVID pandemic threw the global economy into disarray, leaving an indelible mark on the way the world operates.

Just like any other organisations, EW Nutrition — whose mission is "to mitigate the impact of antimicrobial resistance by providing comprehensive animal nutrition solutions" — has to change the way it does business. One area that was significantly affected was the group's engagement with customers.

"With the trends of remote working, there is a prominence of engaging digital tools to stay connected with customers," Ramakanta Nayak, regional director of EW Nutrition South East Asia/Pacific, tells eFeedLink. "Digitalisation has, therefore, expanded our reach to customers which we weren't previously able to do so due to geographical challenges."

To a certain extent, the pandemic has transformed aspects of EW Nutrition's modus operandi. But, even during the past years, its innovations remain in the pipeline as the group launches new products and services to meet industry demands, Nayak notes.

"We have also expanded our workforce with the recruitment of technical experts worldwide," he added. "With technical expertise and best-in-class products and services, EW Nutrition strives to provide holistic solutions to meet the demands of the industry and to help our customers achieve their commercial objectives.

Nayak shares more about the group and its current developments as the pandemic's end appears to be on the near-term horizon.

 

EW Nutrition prides itself on creating "solutions starting from challenges, rather than trying to sell solutions for problems that may or may not exist." Please elaborate on this approach.

Ramakanta Nayak: At EW Nutrition, one of our values is "Customer First" with the whole approach of solving customers' problems. We always start with understanding customers' challenges and then offering the right solution that will help resolve the issue in the best way possible.

One example of the right solution is our natural solution for reducing the impact of coccidiosis, Pretect D. By understanding the current programme of the customer, we are able to define the right strategy to reduce dependency on coccidiostats. This approach helps customers in refining their coccidia control programmes.

We recognised that previously, with pandemic restrictions on travel, regional and local support are even more crucial in these times.

EW Nutrition has dedicated local support in some of the key markets in Southeast Asia and Oceania, including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. We are constantly expanding our workforce by recruiting technical experts with an in-depth knowledge of various local markets.

EW Nutrition serves key accounts in over 50 countries with our own technical and sales personnel.

Please tell us more about Pretect D, as well as the flagship product, Ventar D, in terms of effects and benefits.

Ramakanta Nayak: Pretect D acts as a natural solution to support the efficiency of coccidiosis control. The effects are mainly in terms of reduced oocyst shedding, improved intestinal morphology and gut integrity. The benefits elicit a reduced spread of coccidiosis and residue-free poultry produce, thereby improving production performance.

Ventar D is a proprietary phytomolecule-based solution and has been designed to optimise gut health.

The predominant effects that we have seen with Ventar D are broad-spectrum anti-microbial action (against bacteria, viruses and fungi), reduced gut lesion scores, superior thermostability and better handling characteristics. These effects lead to better gut health conditions and consistent improvement in performance across various breeds, environments and management conditions.

With viral outbreaks like avian influenza, it is imperative that adequate measures, with respect to biosecurity and management (farm and health), are adopted for gut health solutions like Ventar D and Pretect D to be more efficacious. Both solutions possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, that aid in boosting immunity and can support in alleviating viral disease effects.

 

What can you say about EW Nutrition's R&D process to ensure solutions are developed "starting from challenges"?

Ramakanta Nayak: Our innovation processes are aligned with our "Customer First" value.

With any innovation that we start, we first do a very rigorous customer needs analysis. This gives us a good insight into the customer's current and upcoming needs, which helps to decide critical targets for product development.

From this development, Ventar D is one example, which was recently launched globally. Our innovation ensures that Ventar D sustains not only higher pelleting temperatures but also longer conditioning times.

Pelleting conditions are changing; hygienisation and longer conditioning times are a new reality, so our focus on customers' needs helps us to incorporate this target in product development.

Ventar D pushes the boundaries and outperforms many earlier-generation products which may lack the ability to sustain higher temperatures and longer conditioning time.

 

Sustainability has become a very important matter that many industry players have taken great pains to address. What would be the message that EW Nutrition wishes to communicate to industries in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific concerning this matter?

Ramakanta Nayak: Since its foundation, EW Nutrition has been contributing to sustainability in the animal protein production chain. We have formalised our commitment to this topic in our mission, which is to mitigate the impact of antimicrobial resistance by providing comprehensive animal nutrition solutions.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most deadly dangers even today, killing five million people per year, directly or indirectly. These are the official numbers, making AMR already the number four killer globally. But we can only imagine the real count is much higher.

In the future, with rampant antibiotic use in humans and animals, antimicrobial resistance threatens to become the number one source of death.

Now add to that the unseen, cumulative harm caused by antibiotics through water pollution, for instance. By reducing the need for antibiotics through integrative gut health solutions, EW Nutrition is already contributing to the sustainability of our industry.

We are spearheading sustainable animal protein production on all fronts, for instance, focusing on highly improved feed conversion, reduced energy use, reduced contaminants and reduced emissions from farms.

Digitalisation is also a core endeavor that is moving the entire company toward more efficient production, distribution and governance.

As you can see, we find it easier than other companies in the industry to align sustainability concerns with our vision, mission and practices.

We are riding a wave that we have been anticipating a long time ahead. We can only hope more companies in the industry join us, especially in combating AMR through healthy, integrative practices.