CAREY, Ohio – Kalmbach Feeds, a regional leader in the animal nutrition industry, celebrated the grand opening of a new packaged feed plant in Carey, Ohio, during a ribbon cutting ceremony Oct. 30.
Fully automated line
The plant supports the company’s significant growth in the retail segment. Kalmbach Feeds’ new facility features the first fully-automated palletizing line, which is a hybrid between a robot and a conventional palletizer, in the North American feed industry.
The 20,000-square foot, 120-foot tall building is a one-of-a-kind concrete, slip-formed manufacturing plant with ingredient and process towers. The facility has fully automated, computer-controlled processes with full reports of batching, screening, mixing and liquid addition. The state-of-the-art climate-controlled warehouse has been expanded by 25,000-square feet to a total of 90,000-square feet and stores more than 7,000 pallets of product.
Management system
Team members use a fully-implemented warehouse management system (WMS) to clearly identify pallets and products and maintain first-in, first-out processing. Kalmbach Feeds is also the only feed distributor that utilizes a bar-code reader to track where and when products are received, stored and shipped by lot number and license plate ID. Kalmbach Feeds was started in 1963 by Milton and Ruth Kalmbach, and over the last 50 years has grown into a regional leader in the animal nutrition industry.
