Innovative solution for new facility

The official opening of the new extruded feed facility was led by Ridley's interim CEO David Lord, Tasmanian premier Will Hodgman, and Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Guy Barnett.

A team from LGPM were there to congratulate and mark the ceremony.

"Ridley is proud to have delivered this high quality, state of the art facility for our customers and the industry," Mr Lord said.

"This facility allows Ridley to combine its market leading technical and nutritional expertise with world class manufacturing capability.

"It is a mark of our commitment to the extruded feeds industries and will enable the continued growth and development of these industries."

The $50 million Westbury facility will supply markets in Australia and New Zealand and is expected to produce 50,000 tonnes of extruded feed per year.

LGPM designed, supplied, installed and commissioned the intake, macro ingredient and bulk bag filling systems.

The bulk intake included integrated dust extraction, cleaning and storage silos.

The micro-ingredient dosing system included discharge stations and dosing screws, feeding into weighing hoppers capable of accurately dosing batches of macro ingredients.

Also included are associated structural steel and mechanical conveying systems to enable plant operation.

LGPM is also proud to have provided their world class bulk bag filling system for the packing of finished feed.

"LGPM has been working closely with Ridley over the past 20 years," LGPM's general manager, Bruce Stewart said.

"But this unique project allowed us to create a truly innovative, technologically advanced, quality solution that satisfied Ridley's high expectations.

"Congratulations to Ridley on their new extrusion plant!"

The Tasmanian government granted $2 million in funding to support the project.

There were more than 550 contractors and sub-contractors engaged throughout the course of the extrusion plant project from 40 different businesses.