Executive Summary
India’s poultry feed sector produces approximately 40 million metric tons of compound feed annually, with broiler feed accounting for 66% of the total market. As the world’s fifth-largest broiler meat producer at 9.77 million tonnes, India’s poultry integrators operate under intense margin pressure where feed conversion efficiency – directly influenced by pellet quality – determines profitability [1].
This case study examines how a mid-tier broiler integrator in Tamil Nadu’s poultry belt addressed chronic production inconsistency by deploying a Hongyang HYPM-508 ring die pellet mill as the centerpiece of a revamped finishing feed line. Over 20 months of operation, the mill has maintained a Pellet Durability Index (PDI) above 94%, delivered stable throughput of 6.5 tonnes per hour, and recorded zero unplanned downtime attributable to ring die failure – outcomes that reflect both the engineering quality of Hongyang’s equipment and the company’s disciplined approach to pre-sales consultation and on-site commissioning.
1. Industry Context: India’s Poultry Feed Sector
India’s compound feed industry is valued at approximately USD 18 billion as of 2025, with projections reaching USD 25.25 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 7.0% [2]. Poultry feed dominates the landscape: broiler feed alone constitutes 66% of the market, driven by vertically integrated companies that control nearly 80% of organized broiler meat production.
Tamil Nadu ranks among India’s top four poultry-producing states, alongside Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Haryana. The Namakkal-Salem corridor in western Tamil Nadu is one of the densest poultry clusters in Asia, housing over 1,200 feed mills and supporting a broiler population exceeding 150 million birds at any given time. In this hyper-competitive environment, integrators compete on feed cost per kilogram of live weight – a metric where pellet quality plays an outsized role.
Research published in the Indian Journal of Poultry Science has demonstrated that pelleted broiler feeds improve feed intake by 3-5% and reduce feed waste by up to 12% compared to mash feeds. For an integrator producing 20,000 tonnes of feed annually, a 5% improvement in feed efficiency translates to approximately 1,000 tonnes of feed saved – at Indian maize prices of INR 22-24 per kilogram, this represents savings exceeding INR 22 million (USD 265,000) per year.
2. The Customer’s Challenge
Shri Balaji Feeds, a broiler integrator based near Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, operates a closed-loop production system encompassing a parent breeding farm, hatchery, 180 contract broiler growers, and an in-house feed mill producing 24,000 tonnes of compound feed annually (2024 figure). The company markets live birds under long-term supply agreements with regional processors and commands a reputation for consistent bird weight uniformity – a characteristic directly linked to feed pellet consistency.
By late 2023, the feed mill’s aging pellet line presented three operational problems:
Unstable throughput. The existing pellet mill, a domestically manufactured 90 kW unit installed in 2016, delivered throughput that oscillated between 3.8 and 5.2 tonnes per hour for the standard 3.5mm broiler finisher pellet. Operators attributed the fluctuation to inconsistent die compression – as the ring die wore unevenly across its working surface, material flow varied, forcing frequent manual adjustments to feeder speed and steam pressure.
Declining pellet quality. Routine PDI testing using the ASAE S269.4 tumbling method returned values between 86% and 90%, consistently below the integrator’s internal quality threshold of 92%. Fines generation at the bagging station reached 7-9% by weight, requiring the mill to operate an additional scalper and recycle reground fines through the pellet press – a practice that increased energy consumption and introduced variability in pellet hardness due to re-processed starch gelatinization.
Frequent ring die replacement. The ring die required replacement every 9-11 months. Each changeover consumed two full production days, during which the integrator was forced to purchase commercial feed at a premium of approximately INR 3,500 per tonne. Over a typical year, this amounted to roughly INR 1.4 million in additional procurement costs, not including the INR 380,000 cost of a replacement ring die.
“The pellet mill was the heartbeat of our entire operation,” recalled the plant’s production manager. “When it ran smoothly, everything downstream functioned. When it struggled, we felt the impact from the hatchery to the processing plant.”
3. Equipment Evaluation and Selection
Between January and March 2024, Shri Balaji Feeds evaluated replacement options from four suppliers: one Indian manufacturer, one European brand represented through a local distributor, and two Chinese exporters, including Liyang Hongyang Feed Machinery Co., Ltd. (Hongyang).
The evaluation placed particular weight on three criteria:
Ring die metallurgy and precision. Hongyang provided detailed material specifications for its HYPM-508 ring die: 4Cr13 (X46Cr13) martensitic stainless steel, vacuum-hardened to HRC 54-56 on the working surface, with gun-drilled holes ensuring uniform internal diameter and smooth wall finish. Third-party hardness test reports and bore gauge measurements were included in the pre-sales documentation – a level of transparency that differentiated Hongyang from competitors who offered only nominal specifications.
Throughput and power configuration. Hongyang’s engineering team calculated expected throughput of 6-8 tonnes per hour for a 3.5mm broiler finisher pellet at a compression ratio of 1:7.5, using a 132 kW main motor. This aligned with the integrator’s current requirement of 6 t/h with headroom for future expansion to 8 t/h. By contrast, the European supplier’s equivalent model required a 160 kW motor for the same rated output, raising concerns about long-term energy costs.
References and service commitment. Hongyang provided contact details for three existing customers in Asia – including a poultry integrator in the Philippines and a feed mill in Vietnam – who confirmed the company’s after-sales responsiveness. Hongyang also committed to on-site commissioning by a two-person engineering team, operator training, and a 24-month warranty on the ring die body (excluding normal wear), terms that exceeded the standard 12-month coverage offered by other suppliers.
The final selection comprised:
Equipment: Ring die pellet mill HYPM-508 (132 kW) – Primary pelletizing
Spare ring die: 508mm ID, 3.5mm holes, CR 1:7.5 – Backup production
Roller shell (2 sets): 216mm dia., 40CrMnTi – Wear parts
Conditioner: Double-shaft, 5.5 kW – Steam conditioning
4. Commissioning and Production Launch
Hongyang dispatched two engineers to Namakkal in May 2024. The commissioning process spanned 12 days and included several elements that the customer later identified as critical to the mill’s subsequent performance:
Precision alignment. The main motor coupling was aligned to within 0.04mm radial and axial deviation – tighter than Hongyang’s own factory specification of 0.08mm. The engineering team spent a full day on alignment alone, explaining to the mill’s maintenance staff that even minor misalignment accelerates bearing wear and introduces vibration that compromises pellet uniformity.
Ring die break-in protocol. The engineers supervised an 8-hour break-in procedure using a mixture of oily soybean meal and fine rice bran, run at 60% motor load. This protocol – which seats the roller shells against the die surface and burnishes the die holes – is standard practice in European feed mills but was unfamiliar to the Namakkal operators. “We had never done a structured break-in before,” the maintenance supervisor noted. “We used to just start feeding material at full rate and hope for the best.”
Operator training. Over five sessions, the engineers covered roller gap adjustment (0.15-0.25mm tolerance for poultry feed), steam quality parameters (0.3-0.4 MPa saturated steam, 80-85 degrees C die temperature), die wear inspection using a bore gauge, and troubleshooting common pellet quality defects. Training materials were left in English and Tamil, developed specifically for this installation.
First-run PDI measured 94.8% – exceeding the 92% target and approaching the 95% benchmark considered premium quality in commercial poultry feed manufacturing.
5. Operational Results (May 2024 – Present)
After 20 months of continuous operation, processing approximately 36,000 tonnes of broiler feed, the HYPM-508 has delivered the following quantified results:
- Effective throughput: improved from 3.8-5.2 t/h (unstable) to 6.5 t/h (stable), a +25% to +71% improvement
- Pellet Durability Index (PDI): improved from 86-90% to 94-95%, a +5 to +9 point gain
- Fines generation at bagging: reduced from 7-9% to 2.8-3.2%, a -63% reduction
- Ring die service life: improved from 9-11 months to 20+ months (ongoing), a +100%+ improvement
- Unscheduled downtime (monthly): reduced from 16 hours to 2 hours, a -87.5% reduction
- Energy consumption per tonne: reduced from 21.6 kWh/t to 17.8 kWh/t, a -17.6% improvement
Several observations merit attention:
Throughput stability. Unlike the previous mill, whose output fluctuated by 1.4 tonnes per hour depending on die condition, the HYPM-508 has maintained a narrow 6.3-6.7 t/h band throughout its operating life. The operators attribute this to the uniformity of the gun-drilled die holes and the precision of the roller gap – factors that ensure consistent material compression across the entire die working surface.
Extended die life. The original ring die remains in service after 20 months and approximately 5,500 running hours, with bore gauge measurements indicating less than 0.3mm of diametric wear across the die surface. This performance directly reflects the 4Cr13 metallurgy, the vacuum hardening process, and the disciplined break-in procedure. At current wear rates, the production manager estimates a total service life exceeding 24 months – more than double the 9-11 month cycle experienced previously.
Energy efficiency. The 17.6% reduction in per-tonne energy consumption – from 21.6 kWh to 17.8 kWh – yields annual electricity savings of approximately INR 840,000 at Tamil Nadu’s industrial electricity rate of INR 8.50 per kWh. Over the expected 15-year service life of the pellet mill, these cumulative savings alone approach the equipment’s initial capital cost.
6. Customer Perspective
In a follow-up review conducted in December 2025, Shri Balaji Feeds’ management identified three factors that distinguished the Hongyang experience:
First, pre-sales transparency built trust before any money changed hands. The metallurgical reports, hardness test data, and direct customer references provided a factual basis for the procurement decision that internal engineering staff could independently verify.
Second, the commissioning quality – particularly the break-in protocol and operator training – was described as an investment in long-term performance rather than a checkbox exercise. “Most suppliers send an engineer to flip the switch and leave. Hongyang’s team stayed until our operators could run the mill unsupervised at target specifications,” the production manager noted.
Third, after-sales responsiveness has been consistent. When a minor steam seal issue developed in month 14, Hongyang’s technical team diagnosed the problem remotely within three hours and shipped a replacement seal kit that arrived in seven days – faster than the 10-14 day lead time quoted by the Indian supplier for equivalent parts.
7. Conclusion
The Shri Balaji Feeds case illustrates a principle that transcends any single market: in poultry feed manufacturing, production stability is the foundation on which pellet quality, cost efficiency, and customer satisfaction are built. The Hongyang HYPM-508 ring die pellet mill – through its precision-engineered ring die, disciplined commissioning protocol, and responsive after-sales support – enabled a mid-tier Tamil Nadu integrator to transform an unreliable, high-cost pelletizing operation into a stable, quality-driven production asset.
For Indian poultry integrators navigating a market where feed represents 65-70% of total production cost, equipment reliability is not a convenience – it is a competitive necessity. The 20-month performance record at Shri Balaji Feeds, including 94%+ PDI, 17.6% energy savings, and zero ring die replacements, demonstrates that Hongyang’s combination of manufacturing precision and service commitment delivers measurable, sustained value in high-volume, margin-sensitive feed production environments.
Data references: [1] Alltech Agri-Food Outlook / India feed production statistics; [2] IMARC Group, “India Poultry Feed Market Report 2025-2030″; [3] Indian Journal of Poultry Science, various issues on feed form and broiler performance; [4] ASAE Standard S269.4, “Cubes, Pellets, and Crumbles – Definitions and Methods for Determining Density, Durability, and Moisture Content”; [5] USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, “India Poultry and Products Annual Report.”
Post time: May-29-2026
