New Weighbridge Increases Throughput at Malaysian Poultry Plant

Ayamas Integrated Poultry Industry Sdn Bhd is one of the largest chicken integrators in Malaysia. It also operates a feedmill, which is located at Port Klang, Malaysia’s premier port. The feedmill imports raw materials from Asia, Australia, Europe, the USA and South America and exports processed chicken to both the domestic and export markets in Singapore, Bangladesh, Brunei, Hong Kong and the Middle East. The feedmill has a capacity of 160,000 metric tonnes of poultry feed per year, making it vital for the mill to have accurate measurements of incoming raw materials and outgoing finished product.

When the feedmill opened in 1990, Avery Weigh-Tronix installed a 12 metre weighbridge with a capacity of 40,000kg. After more than twenty years of successful operation, incoming and outgoing trucks got longer and heavier as the plant’s capacity increased. As a result, longer trucks had to be unhooked from their prime movers in order to fit on the weighbridge platform. As well as the inconvenience caused, this also resulted in weighing accuracy problems.

Longer-length weighbridge

The longevity and reliability of the older weighbridge lead Ayamas to contact Avery Weigh-Tronix to help resolve the problem. After careful examination of site requirements, the team from Avery Weigh-Tronix recommended that the company replace the older scale with a new 18 metre BMC weighbridge.

The existing compression load cells, indicator and computer were retained, keeping costs down by re-using existing parts and reducing the need for additional training for weighbridge operators. Four new load cells were added, increasing the capacity of the weighbridge to 80,000kg.

Full site survey and consultation

As well as replacing the weighbridge, the team worked with management at the mill to look at other improvements to their weighing processes. After a site survey, the team advised the mill to move the weighbridge to a new location, making better use of the tight space available on site as well as offering smoother traffic slow and improved site security.

Increased throughput and efficiency

Mr. CH Lee, Plant Manager at Ayamas feedmill, commented “The new weighbridge has enabled us to weigh longer trucks without having to remove the prime movers. This has helped to speed up the weighing process and increase throughput, enabling more vehicles to weighed in a shorter amount of time.

“The new weighbridge also allows us to weigh incoming and outgoing loads far more accurately, resulting in less weighing disputes and more accurate invoicing, all of which have a direct impact on our profitability.”