Executive Summary
In the competitive Belgian compound feed market—where pig feed represents half of the country’s 6.7 million tonnes of annual output—pellet quality directly determines commercial success. This case study examines how a second-generation feed mill in West Flanders, Belgium, addressed persistent pellet durability issues in its piglet creep feed line by adopting Hongyang ring dies and a HYPM-series pellet mill. Within two production cycles, the mill reported a measurable improvement in Pellet Durability Index (PDI), a 60% reduction in fines, and a ring die service life that tripled the performance of its previous European-made dies. The case illustrates how precision-engineered compression ratios and metallurgical consistency from Hongyang translate into tangible production outcomes for specialized feed segments.
1. The Belgian Feed Landscape: Scale and Specialization
Belgium occupies a distinctive position in European animal nutrition. According to the Belgian Feed Association (BFA), the country produced 6.7 million tonnes of compound feed in 2024, a 3.3% year-on-year increase after three years of contraction. Pig feed alone accounts for approximately 50% of this total—roughly 3.35 million tonnes—making it the dominant segment and a volume significantly above the European average.
This output is supported by a consolidating industry. BFA membership declined from 133 to 125 companies between 2023 and April 2025, with small and medium-sized family businesses facing the most acute pressure from nitrogen regulations, trade restrictions, and rising input costs. Yet within this landscape, specialized producers serving niche segments—such as early-stage piglet nutrition—continue to find room for growth by differentiating on feed quality rather than price.
The piglet creep feed segment is particularly demanding. Creep feed is the first solid ration offered to suckling piglets, typically from day 7 to 10 of lactation through weaning at 21 to 28 days. Research consistently shows that pelleting creep feed significantly reduces wastage and increases intake compared to mash or crumble forms. Standard pellet diameter for piglets is 2 to 3 mm, and pellet hardness must balance durability during handling with the softness required for a young animal’s undeveloped digestive system.
2. The Mill: A Flanders Family Operation
The feed mill profiled here is a second-generation, independently owned operation located in West Flanders, approximately 30 kilometers from the French border. The facility produces roughly 8,000 tonnes of compound feed per month, with piglet creep and weaner feeds accounting for 20% of total output—approximately 1,600 tonnes monthly. The mill serves a network of approximately 60 pig farms across Flanders and northern Wallonia.
For ten years, the mill sourced ring dies from a well-known European manufacturer. The dies performed adequately for standard grower-finisher rations (3.5 to 4.0 mm pellet diameter), but the creep feed line—running a 2.5 mm die with a 1:8 compression ratio—consistently underperformed. Operators reported three recurring problems:
- Excessive fines. Post-pelleting sieve analysis showed 12–15% fines in finished creep feed, well above the mill’s target of under 5%.
- Uneven pellet hardness. PDI values fluctuated between 88 and 93 across production runs, leading to variability in feed intake at farm level.
- Short die service life. Creep feed dies were reaching end-of-life at 4,000 to 4,500 tonnes, well below the 6,000-tonne benchmark the mill budgeted for.
The high fines content was the most commercially damaging. Piglet producers reported dust accumulation in automatic feeding systems, and some observed reduced creep feed intake in litters where fines exceeded 10%. Given that creep feed intake before weaning is a strong predictor of post-weaning performance, the mill recognized the problem as a threat to its customer retention.
3. The Solution: Hongyang HYPM Ring Die Technology
In early 2025, the mill’s production manager initiated a trial with Hongyang Feed Machinery (Liyang Hongyang) for a replacement ring die on the creep feed pellet mill, a CPM 7726-7 model. The specifications Hongyang proposed for the 2.5 mm piglet creep feed die were:
The key differences lay in metallurgy and hole geometry. Hongyang’s 20CrMnTi alloy with carburizing heat treatment achieves a surface hardness of 60–62 HRC while retaining a tough subsurface core, providing superior wear resistance without brittleness. The variable three-stage relief geometry, designed in consultation with the mill’s technical team, aimed to optimize the pellet compression cycle: a longer effective compression zone for durability, followed by a graduated relief to reduce die plugging on high-fiber creep feed formulations.
Concurrently, Hongyang provided technical guidance on steam conditioning parameters: target mash temperature of 78–82 °C with 16–17% moisture at the conditioner outlet, a narrower band than the mill’s previous operating range of 72–85 °C.
| Parameter | Previous European Die | Hongyang Die |
|---|---|---|
| Die inner diameter | 650 mm | 650 mm |
| Hole diameter | 2.5 mm | 2.5 mm |
| Effective compression ratio | 1:8 | 1:8 |
| Material | X46Cr13 (1.4034) | 20CrMnTi carburized + heat-treated |
| Surface hardness | 56–58 HRC | 60–62 HRC |
| Hole finishing | Standard drilling | Gun-drilled + polished |
| Relief design | Single-stage | Variable relief (3-stage) |
4. Results: Measurable Improvements Across Three KPIs
The Hongyang ring die was installed in late February 2025. The production team conducted a structured 30-day evaluation, comparing data against the previous six-month baseline.
Pellet Durability Index (PDI)
The PDI improved by 5.6 percentage points, but the more significant outcome was the narrowing of the quality band. PDI variability—measured as the min-max range across 12 monitored batches—dropped from 5.3 to 1.3 percentage points. For the mill’s customers, this meant consistent pellet integrity in every delivery, eliminating the batch-to-batch quality complaints that had previously accounted for 40% of customer service calls.
Throughput and Energy Consumption
Throughput increased by 8.3% while specific energy consumption decreased by 7.5%. The reduction in motor load was attributed to the polished hole finishing, which lowers wall friction during pellet extrusion. At the mill’s energy rate of €0.14/kWh, the energy saving alone translated to approximately €380 per month for the creep feed line.
Die Service Life
As of June 2026, the Hongyang ring die had processed over 14,000 tonnes of creep feed and was still within operational tolerance on hole diameter (measured at 2.52–2.54 mm at 12 sample points). This represents more than triple the service life of the previous supplier’s dies (4,000–4,500 tonnes). The extended service interval reduced die changeovers from approximately four per year to one, saving an estimated 24 hours of annual downtime and approximately €900 in labor and lost production per avoided changeover.
| Metric | Baseline (6-month avg.) | Hongyang Die (30-day avg.) |
|---|---|---|
| PDI (Pfost tumbling) | 90.2% | 95.8% |
| PDI range (min–max) | 88.1%–93.4% | 95.2%–96.5% |
| Fines (<1 mm) in finished feed | 13.5% | 4.8% |
| Metric | Baseline | Hongyang Die |
| Throughput (t/h) | 4.8 | 5.2 |
| Motor load (%) | 82% | 78% |
| Specific energy (kWh/t) | 18.6 | 17.2 |
5. Customer-Level Impact: What the Pig Farmers Noticed
The mill surveyed 25 of its piglet feed customers six weeks after the Hongyang die entered full production. Key findings:
- Feed waste reduction. 19 of 25 farms (76%) reported visibly less dust in creep feeders and automatic feeding lines. Several estimated that feed wastage decreased by 5–8%, which on a typical 500-sow farrow-to-wean operation could represent €600–€1,200 in annual savings.
- Intake consistency. 17 farms noted that piglets appeared to consume creep feed more uniformly across litters, with fewer cases of “fines-sorting” behavior where piglets nuzzle out dust to reach the pellets.
- Weaning transition. The mill’s technical service team tracked weaning-to-estrus interval data from five farms that requested performance monitoring. Preliminary data suggested a marginal improvement in weaning weights, though the sample was too small and the observation period too short to isolate the pellet quality variable from seasonal and management factors.
While these farm-level observations are qualitative, they align with the established research consensus that pellet quality directly affects creep feed intake and, by extension, pre-weaning growth.
6. The Hongyang Difference: Process Discipline Behind the Numbers
The outcomes reported here are not the result of a single technical specification but of a systematic approach to ring die design and quality control. Hongyang’s approach relevant to this case includes:
- Vacuum carburizing heat treatment. Delivers a uniform hardened case depth (0.8–1.2 mm for the 20CrMnTi alloy) with controlled carbon potential, minimizing distortion compared to atmospheric carburizing.
- Gun-drilled hole finishing. Tighter diametric tolerance (±0.05 mm) and lower surface roughness (Ra ≤ 0.8 μm) compared to conventionally drilled holes, reducing wall friction and improving pellet flow.
- Application-specific compression ratio design. While this case used a standardized 1:8 ratio for creep feed, Hongyang engineers worked from formulation details—including fiber content, fat inclusion, and target hardness—to validate the ratio before manufacture.
- Pre-shipment hardness mapping. Each die undergoes Rockwell hardness testing at a minimum of 18 points across both faces and the inner circumference, with results documented in a quality certificate accompanying the shipment.
For the Belgian mill, the combination translated into three things that matter to any production manager: stable pellet quality, lower operating cost, and fewer unplanned interventions.
7. Conclusion
The Flanders case demonstrates that precision-engineered ring die technology delivers measurable production and commercial returns in the demanding piglet creep feed segment. The mill achieved a PDI above 95%, fines below 5%, and a die service life exceeding 14,000 tonnes—all while reducing specific energy consumption by more than 7%. These results did not require reformulation or capital investment, only a supplier change.
In Belgium’s consolidating feed market, where 125 producers compete for a finite and increasingly regulated customer base, operational reliability and consistent product quality are the foundations of customer loyalty. For this family mill, Hongyang’s ring die has become a quiet but material contributor to both.
*Data sources: Belgian Feed Association (BFA) 2024 annual statistics via Vilt/Boerenbusiness; Prairie Swine Centre “Creep Feeding Handbook” (2025); production data reported by the subject feed mill with permission for anonymized publication.*
Post time: Jun-12-2026
