This growth has prompted the addition of another new plant. The new ABA plant will provide growth areas in the extrusion product line to meet the growing demand for Empagran feed. Having enjoyed a long and prosperous working relationship of approximately 20 years with ANDRITZ, Empagran will once again install the ANDRITZ extruder.
ANDRITZ was chosen because of their product quality and knowledge and because Empagran’s familiarity with their products means less operational training will be needed and implementation will be faster. “However, it is not only because they are a leading brand known for their quality,” Vernaza stated unequivocally, “they also have excellent post-sales services. Logistics are never a problem with ANDRITZ – with other companies, located in other countries, there are language and time challenges that Empagran does not encounter with ANDRITZ because they have representatives and product centers nearby to coordinate and manage projects locally.”
“With ANDRITZ I am comfortable knowing there is someone covering my back, someone responsive, who will return my calls to work on challenges when they are presented. But the biggest reason we chose ANDRITZ is that they are a good group of people who are always so easy to work with, and together, we are a team.”
The new production line is now in the commission period with the full operational launch planned to occur later this month, April 2018. The new production line will add up to 25,000 tons of feed per year over the next three years. Currently, ABA is the biggest and most automated plant in Ecuador, and even though it has the capacity to produce any kind of feed, it has specialized in making feed for shrimp its primary focus.