Harrison Poultry

NORD powers state-of-the-art feed mill

The processing and distribution of grain and feed for millions of chickens requires efficient and reliable equipment and infrastructure. When last year David Bleth, President/CEO at Harrison Poultry, and his team started to design and build their new feed mill in Crawfordville, Georgia, they knew exactly who to contact for simple and reliable mechatronic drive solutions for their conveyor systems, lifting gears, mixers and screws.

Old friendships forge new opportunities and strategic partnerships

For several important reasons, Harrison Poultry chose NORD DRIVESYSTEMS as the preferred geared motor supplier for its $ 52 million facility.

NORD’s distribution partner Campbell Sales in Athens, Georgia, has been a strategic integrator and supplier for various Harrison facilities for many years. It therefore made sense to stick with NORD’s proven products, services, support, logistics and expertise provided by Campbell.

“Will Campbell convinced me to install NORD gear units in our old feed mill in Winder, Georgia”, says David Sailors, Operations Manager at Harrison. “That was 20 years ago, and the units are still running. We have bought several more since then – with the same result.”

Together with Campbell Sales, Sailors, Harrison’s Corporate Project Manager Nick Strange and the rest of the Harrison team started to design and build a state-of-the-art facility with the capacity to cover the grain and feed needs for the next 20 years and beyond. Hogenson Construction was selected as the general contractor for the extensive project.

The teams at Harrison, Hogenson and Campbell worked together to jointly select and dimension gear units and MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units from NORD. Application engineers from NORD then worked directly with various globally leading manufacturers from the US who would provide the mill systems and equipment, to support them with regard to design, assembly and commissioning.

NORD’s helical bevel gear units, NORDBLOC.1® Parallel Shaft gear units and MAXXDRIVE® industrial gear units offered various product advantages for Harrison.

The solutions from NORD replaced outdated shives, pulleys, belts, protective devices and the like. They also use a direct-drive concept, which is far safer and more efficient. Due to their reduced maintenance and service requirements, which are typical for conveyor belts and pulleys, they were also more cost effective for Harrison. Fewer moving parts improved the overall reliability and reduced the number of wear parts that need to be stocked.

For this project, all NORD gear units from 2.2. to 150 kW were equipped with NEMA inputs adapters to facilitate the replacement of motors. More than 75 different NORD products with torques ranging from approx. 450 Nm to 56,500 Nm were used for the Harrison feed mill project. NORD’s extensive range of products was also a key factor in the decision-making process and allowed Harrison to consolidate all requirements to one key sales partner.

The results are excellent

“We now have enough space to store more than 25,000 tons of grain”, Sailors says. “Two pellet lines with a total production capacity of 14,000 tons of feed per week are currently in operation, but we can increase that to 21,000 tons by adding a third line. There are also plans to install silos for soybean meal, offering us an additional 5,000 tons of storage capacity in the future. Aside from all that, we had to construct the loop track coming off the main rail line, which is about 2.5 km long and has two auxiliary tracks, each providing capacity for 15 C114 railcars. It is a very impressive facility.”

“We have two grinders that process 170 tons of grain per hour, and our agitators’ capacity is 240 tons per hour”, Strange says. “This mill features motors with a combined power of 4,500 kW and 95% of them are equipped with a NORD gear unit. They are far more energy-efficient, which is increasingly important nowadays. We are very happy with our decision.”

Harrison’s success story: From humble beginnings to worldwide success

In 1949, Harold Harrison, World War II veteran and graduate of the University of Georgia’s Agricultural Economics program, invested $ 1,000 in an incubator to hatch around 3,000 chicks per week. By 1955, he was already selling 150,000 birds per week and soon built his own processing plant in Betlehem, Georgia.

Today, the company has more than 1,000 employees. Harrison Poultry produces approximately 143,000 tons of chicken per year. Its product mix includes whole birds, bulk parts and boneless chicken, most of it destined for domestic and international customers in either commercial food processing or restaurant industries. The company known for its “Golden Goodness” product series continues expanding, and being one of the 20 largest poultry producers in the USA, it provides livelihood for farmers, families and stakeholders around the world.

UNICASE Helical Bevel Gear Motor

Helical bevel gear unit with robust housing and high ratio

0.12 kW - 200 kW
180 Nm - 50,000 Nm
High power density
Low maintenance with long service life
High radial and axial loads

UNICASE Parallel Gear Motor

Gear motor with slim design

0.12 kW - 200 kW
110 Nm - 100,000 Nm
Slim design for space-saving installation
Wash-down capable, can be equipped with NXD tupH® for food-safe surface protection
Low noise levels thanks to quiet running