Optimum Value Supplier Database® & AutoCalc®
Optimized Ingredient Sourcing
The Optimum Value Supplier Database® (OVSdb™), along with AutoCalc®, is the one-two combination that enables Cargill to know more about the raw materials going into its feeds than any other feed manufacturer in the world. These two innovative tools allow us to determine which ingredients and which suppliers offer the best quality and value.
How It Works
These two tools were developed together to track and evaluate the quality and consistency of feed ingredients from Cargill suppliers over time, thereby determining who are the best and most consistent nutrient suppliers. The knowledge provided by these tools allows us to fulfill our goal to deliver the best and most consistent animal nutrition to our customers.
The OVSdb™ tool summarizes ingredient laboratory data for raw materials from ingredient suppliers. More than 300,000 samples are represented in this tool from suppliers located in North America. Separate databases are available in other world regions. Supplier data may be blended to approximate local supply. Guidance is provided on sampling frequency based on statistical analysis of within-supplier variations. Summarized ingredient data may be exported for import into formulation software and/or AutoCalc®.
The AutoCalc® system calculates or predicts nutrients from measured nutrients. For each ingredient, input nutrients such as Protein, Fat, Ash, Moisture, Neutral Detergent Fiber are used in ingredient-specific equations and coefficient sets to calculate several classes of output nutrients for livestock species. Examples of output nutrients include Energy values, Protein Degradability, Carbohydrate Components, Total Amino Acids, and species-specific Intestinally Digestible Amino Acids. Approximately 150 nutrients are calculated for each raw material.
Benefits
Customer benefits as the result of valuations by the OVSdb™ and AutoCalc® combination:
· Excellent tool for determining purchasing price.
· Process for selecting preferred supplier
· Consistent nutrient composition in feed products
· Available nutrients provided by AutoCalc® such as digestible amino acids and available phosphorus can also improve nutrient composition of Feed products
· More predictable and consistent animal performance
· Reduction of feed cost
Examples
One creative customer solution is the OVSdb™ Service Agreement with a large integrated poultry business in the Midwest. The agreement covers four feed plants and includes:
· 60 AutoCalc® package analyses per month including some selected AutoCalc® nutrients
· Summarized data from OVSdb™, which includes Cargill Animal Nutrition data, fro the current suppliers.
· An option to request data from the OVSdb™ for potential suppliers being used
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