Farmed aquatic species require specialized feed, with specific characteristics to deliver the necessary nutrients. As well as dealing with complex formulations, often manufactured with multi-stage processes, producers also need to stay on top of many other considerations including ingredient variability, cost, traceability, and sustainability.
Datacor Animal Nutrition is trusted by feed manufacturers worldwide to help with all aspects of aquafeed production, from formula optimization to production management and regulatory compliance.
With our software solutions, users can turn a traditionally fragmented process into a streamlined, data-driven engine – fine-tuning their formulations to maximize growth performance and control feed costs for aquatic animals.
An effective ingredient-forecasting strategy helps mills stay ahead of price swings and supply shocks while protecting margins, says Ian Mealey, Datacor Animal Nutrition’s Product Marketing Director.
Datacor's latest iteration, Ara Formulation, is next-generation solution that is perfect for assisting aquafeed production. “Ara is a predictive tool as well as a tool for managing the day-to-day”, covering precision formulation, ingredient forecasting, and built-in regulatory labeling, he says.
Each feed specification covers product performance as well as regulations and how a plant can produce it. Based on specification, pricing, and quality of ingredients, Ara can predict ingredient volumes that producers should forward purchase to maximize profitability while maintaining quality.
“The software gives you the best answer, so that you’re producing high-performing feed in a way that’s profitable for the producer and also helpful for the farmer,” says Mealey. “The system allows you to set up data not only to represent today, but tomorrow or next month, next quarter, or next year.”
This innovative feature, called Time Periods, is a “really flexible way to allow you to model current and future scenarios, test what might happen and make decisions based on the results,” he adds.
There are alot of risk points in designing and making complex aquafeed products, says Mealey, but formulation software helps to mitigate that risk.
“Innovative tools in the software and the range of techniques it provides allow you to address the challenges,” he says.
In addition to providing the right nutrition, product design must incorporate many other considerations, including a need to ensure performance in water to give maximum feeding availability. Design must cover the special nature of feed production, such as the use of extrusion, with the impact that drying can have on nutrition and cost, and spraying with separate recipes of oil blends. It must also take into account regulatory, marketing, and functional aspects.
This makes for a complex picture, but the benefit of including these considerations and using the right software to design product formulas within these constraints is increased accuracy and reduced risk.
This is where Ara Formulation can help. “To be more reflective of reality and the production process, we have unique, more capable solutions than have traditionally been used by nutritionists,” says Mealey.
The formulation optimization process uses a mathematical algorithm that understands the unique aspects of aquafeed products. Using the latest available information, the algorithm calculates the most cost-effective recipe to suit users’ requirements, maintain quality and cost-effectiveness.
“Ara can also streamline the whole process around bringing in data updates, optimizing recipes, checking them, and then passing them through to production,” says Mealey.
Changes to ingredient nutrient values and costs mean that recipes need to be updated. This increases the need for good traceability, he notes. Keeping historical records allows producers to understand and keep track of changes over time. Traceability of formulation data can be used to compare against production batch records, giving a 360o view of the production process to confirm the feed was blended and manufactured according to the formula and whether the recipe itself was suitable.
This information is vital to support audits, assist in understanding trends in performance or validate against customer complaints. If a feed is found to be contaminated, for example, traceability data helps producers know exactly where and when the contamination occurred and helps decide how to handle the contaminated feed.
“Ara’s DataTrace module records what has been done on the formulation side,” says Mealey. “Unique version identities are assigned and provide the link to the source formula through the production process and integrations with other systems.”
Datacor Animal Nutrition is soon to release a dedicated compliance module for Ara, called Comply. This innovative add-on will automate checks on whether a formulation follows a specification and complies with regulations. This is traditionally done by nutritionists applying their specialist knowledge in a manual checking procedure, says Mealey. “Rather than having to remember all of the things you need to check, you allow the system to apply the rules,” he says. The checks are applied in an efficient, reliable process, with errors being automatically trapped. These errors must be corrected before approval of the formula, thus minimizing risk in the task of formula change-over.
Another software module focused on labeling offers users the reassurance that legal declarations, based on formula content, are always correct. Labels include ingredient listings, additive declarations, and feeding instructions. “Because our labelling system is integrated with formulation, you know that the label will accurately represent the formula,” he says.
By seamlessly combining all these essential modules, Datacor’s software is recognized as one of the most efficient and accurate products on the market, he says. “We have a set of tools that fits into a really neat workflow. The software – with its Optimizer, Comply, Labeling, and Traceability modules – ensures producers can securely and efficiently implement quality formulas,” he says.
Drawing on decades of experience assisting feed manufacturers, our software provides all the tools and functionality needed to streamline aquafeed production and optimize formulations and ingredient resource usage, and stay compliant with validated formulas and regulatory-ready labels.
“We stand out in many ways,” adds Mealey. “We have a lot of knowledge in the business and talk the same language as our customers.”
If you're ready to take aquafeed management to the next level, now is the perfect time to get started.
Discover how Formulation software is helping producers cultivate healthier, more sustainable fish and aquatic life while improving efficiency and profitability.
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