October 27, 2022
Kemin's Science Optimized Savings Programme: An effective way of managing feed costs in uncertain markets (Part 2)
Kemin's Science Optimized Savings (SOS) programme would be crucial in helping its customers manage feed costs during market and supply uncertainties.
The success of this initiative also lies in the sum of its various components, including Kemin's millSMART™ programme, enzyme solutions and its Customer Laboratory Services (CLS). How would this synergy function for the benefit of feed producers in Asia, and how does it enable the company to stand out from its competitors?
Representatives from Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health, Asia Pacific — Alex Wu, head of animal nutrition; Kin Ken Chew, head of feed quality and technology; and product manager Hung Tran — explain more to eFeedLink about these topics in this second part of the interview centred on the SOS programme.
The first part of the interview can be accessed here: https://www.efeedlink.com/contents/10-12-2022/76773443-1b02-4a86-9d1c-729bacff789f-a181.html).
Please elaborate further on Kemin's millSMART programme and its role in SOS. Additionally, how would SOS draw in and implement the various solutions and expertise it has within its portfolio?
Kin Ken Chew: Kemin's millSMART is a programme designed to help the feed producers to improve the feed mills' 4P – Productivity, Processes, Pellet Quality and Profitability. millSMART works as a preconditioning step to optimise the mash feed to achieve its target moisture level and conditions in the mixer prior to conditioning for efficient pellet milling.
Today, with the skyrocketing raw material, logistics, energy and other inputs costs, nutritionist and formulators have been working hard to optimise the feed formulation to squeeze every cent out of the shrinking profit margin. The millSMART programme provides another avenue for the feed producers to further reduce and optimise the feed cost by lowering the feed production cost.
Kemin has domain knowledge experts with extensive experience in feed milling. They can help our customers uncover the challenges faced in feed milling and formulate a solution specific to the customers' needs. Feed producers can count on Kemin when adopting and implementing the millSMART programme in their feed mills.
Regarding product applications, customers can rely on the Kemin Application Solutions (KAS) Team to provide them with customised application solutions. Kemin has a local field engineering team based in each major market to provide dedicated support and prompt response for installation, preventive maintenance and troubleshooting.
Finally, there is Kemin's Customer Laboratory Services (CLS) which can provide dedicated analytical support to assist customers in analysing feed quality and stability.
Alex Wu: millSMART works hand in hand with Kemin nutrition solutions. We know feed normally accounts for at least 60% to 70% of monogastric animal production costs. So when it comes to the cost breakdown in the feed formula, normally, one of the most expensive components is energy. This is followed by the costs of protein and phosphorus.
Kemin has a leading role in the research and application of bio-emulsifiers, which can come in handy during these very challenging times.
As Hung mentioned, Kemin's answer to lipid digestion improvement, LYSOFORTE™, aids in lipid emulsification and improves absorption of fat and other nutrients.
Kemin is also one of the first companies to come up with genuine, multi-protease enzymes, which can help to improve aminolysis by disparity by around 4% to 5% in monogastric animals.
With these different, innovative solutions, Kemin can help feed producers to have more leeway in dealing with high raw material costs and save, in general, around US$7 to US$10 per tonne of feed.
Kemin's Customer Laboratory Services and our technical service team can also help our customers formulate a customised solution based on a specific situation.
Alternate raw materials may be affordable and help maintain acceptable performance, but our customers could not incorporate them into their formula due to low digestibility. With the latest enzyme technology, incorporating alternate raw materials has been made possible.
Xygest HT can improve apparent metabolised energy (AME) by around 100 kilocalories per kilo of feed while producing a prebiotic effect. This could lead to heightened production of volatile fatty acids and proliferation of beneficial bacteria. This also could shift the gut microbiome to ensure better overall well-being.
Profitability is as vital as cost savings, and we provide means to save costs and improve profitability in multiple ways.
How is Kemin doing differently than other feed additives companies when it comes to similar programmes? Why is the company well positioned to provide its customers with the best-fit solution and services?
Hung Tran: Our goal with SOS is to offer tailored solutions to our customers on rising feed costs. Customers have different needs, feed formulas and challenges, so we understand that every customer's needs are different. Kemin's laboratory and technical services enable Kemin to assist our customers in assessing the quality of their feed ingredients and setting up a plan so that they can see the actual nutrient values rather than just going by the nutritional book values. Then, our customers could formulate feeds more precisely and select suitable feed additives at the right dosage to ensure the nutrients are utilised effectively.
Kin Ken Chew: Under the SOS programme, what Kemin has is a holistic portfolio of solutions for customers to work on different areas to tackle the soaring feed costs. Apart from the solutions for formula cost optimisation, Kemin also has the solution for feed producers to reduce the feed cost from the feed production perspective by improving the milling efficiency with millSMART.
The offerings under the SOS like LYSOFORTE, KEMZYME™ and millSMART have always played a leading role, and we have a solid track record for all these solutions. It is why customers can always depend on us for cost-saving solutions.
Supply chain reliability is another key consideration for our industry today. Our customers can depend on Kemin because we have robust supply chain management. Kemin has a manufacturing site in Singapore, where we are positioned close to our customers in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific. We can skip through potential supply chain disruptions or port congestion by having the manufacturing site close to our customers.
The second factor is that Kemin has local warehouses, and we work hand in hand in partnership with local distributors. Hence, we have an inventory in each local market to buffer our supply chain if there is a disruption in the logistics and supply chain.
Additionally, Kemin has a very strong network with our suppliers. We are working with business units in other regions like Europe and the United States to source our raw materials from different parts of the world. This is how we future-proof our supply chain.
Alex Wu: Kemin started providing SOS because Kemin cares. Our colleagues forge strong bonds with feed industry players, and we sincerely wish to help our partners ride through this storm.
Additionally, the impact of our solutions is definitely among one of the best (achieved outcomes) in our industry.
As we mentioned previously about our protease enzyme, it could be used to reduce reliance on some key but costly protein meals like soybean meal.
We also have other enzyme solutions, such as a specific enzyme for cassava, known for its high starch. We have our technical service and engineering teams to advise customers on how to incorporate cassava in their formula and use it in a high amount in the feed while still maintaining excellent feed quality. This can be done through our feed quality technologies such as millSMART.
Last but not least, SOS works in tandem with other Kemin services. A local, customer-oriented laboratory, an R&D laboratory and our technical service team enable Kemin to cater to our customers' needs in a timely fashion as we are strategically located nearby.
- Terry Tan, eFeedLink
