In 2006, Lifland Animal Feed, an Icelandic compound feed company decided to make a major investment in the future. The goal: To build the country’s most modern, flexible and productive feed mill for a wide range of livestock. With support from ANDRITZ, this 100-year-old company is now successfully leading the way into a new era of growth
When Thorir Haraldsson decided to modernize his operation, he knew he needed an engineering partner he could trust. “I contacted a number of suppliers,” explains Haraldsson, Director of the Lifland animal feed mill, “and ANDRITZ was the only one able to come to our site to design, deliver and commission a complete process line factory from the ground up. No one else had all the capabilities I needed.”
The ANDRITZ team arrived in Grundartangi, on the coast of an inlet just north of Reykjavik. Together with Haraldsson, they discussed the barley, wheat and vitamin formulations Lifland intended to use. Raw material storage, silo sizes, and cooler systems were all defined, and ANDRITZ proceeded to design a state-of-the-art feed facility, including all of the elevators, conveyor systems and ancillary equipment necessary for a fully integrated factory.
Regrettably, in 2008 the global financial crisis struck Iceland with full force, putting the project’s finances on hold. Through it all, a strong collaborative partnership ensued, knowing that new financing would eventually be secured and the project would move ahead as planned.
Thorir Haraldsson,
Director, Lifland Animal Feed
When the team of engineers and electricians arrived from Denmark, Lifland had constructed a new quay in Grundartangi harbor from crushed lava stones, and less than a year later, in October 2010, the completed plant was inaugurated with a celebration of 400 visitors, including several government ministers. Together, Lifland and ANDRITZ built Iceland’s largest feed mill, capable of producing 12 tons of feed per hour.
With the help of training and commissioning assistance from ANDRITZ, Lifland’s technicians were soon producing at full capacity. An advanced double cooler system made it possible to change recipes in minutes -a significant advantage for processing a broad range of feed products for Icelandic horses, cows, sheep, pigs, broilers, and layers. By the end of the first year, Lifland had produced a full 24,000 tons of feed.
Fortunately, Haraldsson had the foresight to request a facility with sufficient space to expand, and in 2015 an additional process line was designed and installed. Other fine-tuning and upgrades were done simultaneously on the first line, which had been operating around the clock, five days a week. “This meant that any maintenance work had to be completed on the weekends,” says Haraldsson. “With the second line, we can now produce almost twice the volume while working just two 16-hour shifts per week.”
Thanks to the combination of high performance, low energy consumption, and rapid changeover times, the Lifland factory‘s products are now extremely competitive in terms of price and quality. The new line is used primarily for broiler and layer feed, while the first line continues to change recipes for additional products including, most recently, cattle feed.
“I’m very pleased with how this partnership worked out,” concludes Haraldsson. “When I first stood here and pointed to where I planned to build, the ANDRITZ staff looked at me and said, ‘But it’s just the sea! Where is the land?’ Here we are today in that same spot, producing 40,000 high-quality tons per year in the middle of a fast-growing new seaport. It’s a very exciting time.”
