Simple disc mill ensures stable feed production in Vrå

When production comes to a standstill, it quickly becomes costly, which is why operational reliability, service and maintenance all play a key role in the choice of production equipment.

Around three years ago, DLG in Vrå replaced their previous mill at the feed mill with a disc mill from SKIOLD. The disc mill was chosen, amongst other reasons, because of its simple design and because the mill itself can carry out a large part of the routine servicing.

“The disc mill is running well. It is simple and easy to work with, and it means a great deal to us that we can carry out some of the servicing and routine maintenance ourselves,” says Anders Jensen, who is responsible for repairs and maintenance of feed production at DLG in Vrå.

Previously, the factory had a larger roller mill, where servicing could be both time-consuming and costly. According to Anders, a major service could require two or three people for around a day, as well as spare parts costing 200,000–300,000 Danish kroner equal to 27,000-40,000 EUR.

With the new disc mill from SKIOLD, DLG continues to carry out annual servicing to keep the plant running. However, the simple design and cheaper spare parts mean that the ongoing costs of keeping the mill running are significantly lower.

Anders estimates that servicing costs are around half those of the previous plant.

Although DLG in Vrå has had positive experiences with the operation of the disc mill, servicing has been required from time to time.

Whilst replacing a wear part on the mill, an error was reported when a new disc needed adjusting. Initially, various settings for the adjustment motor were tried. However, it turned out that the cause was not in the control system, but that one of the discs was out of tolerance.

Consequently, the uneven disc had to be replaced with a new, flat disc, which was in stock at SKIOLD in Sæby.

“Online access to DLG’s SK10 unit enabled us to quickly rule out the control system and pinpoint the fault as a mechanical issue. Once the cause had been identified, we had a new disc ready the very same day,” explains Kristoffer Stidsholt, a service technician at SKIOLD.

After the replacement, the mill could be adjusted correctly, and DLG was able to get the plant up and running again following the service.

For Anders Jensen, the experience also serves as an example of how important it is for technical equipment to be accessible and understandable to the staff who work with it on a daily basis.

“Downtime is expensive for us. It can cost around one million Danish kroner (=135,000 EUR) a day in lost production, so it’s vital that we can quickly identify a fault and deal with as much of it as possible ourselves,” he says.

Maintenance must support production

The DLG plant in Vrå is the company’s northernmost feed mill in Denmark, and local pig farmers rely on production running smoothly. Therefore, planning for service and maintenance is not just a question of economics, but also of security of supply.

According to SKIOLD, this places demands on both the design of the equipment and the service that supports it.

“We know that our industrial customers need equipment that they can service themselves on a day-to-day basis. Furthermore, they need access to our specialists when more complex problems arise, so that we can quickly get the plant up and running again,” says Henrik Hanghøj, Head of Field Service & Helpdesk at SKIOLD.

For DLG, it was precisely this simple design that was a key reason for choosing SKIOLD’s disc mill. The factory had also heard positive feedback from another DLG factory, where similar disc mills had been operating without any problems.

Despite the faulty disc, the experience in Vrå is that the mill fulfils its most important task: keeping production running – whilst making ongoing maintenance simpler and cheaper.