Grand Opening of the New De Heus Animal Feed Plant in Ivory Coast

What a wonderful day we had attending the highly anticipated opening ceremony for the new De Heus Animal Feed Plant in Ivory Coast.

It’s always a proud moment when we can hand over the keys to a newly completed facility we’ve had the privilege to look after and create quite literally from the ground up. So it’s extra icing on the cake when we get to experience the celebration of the official opening as it becomes fully operational with those most involved in the sphere of influence this particular development will have.

Grand opening of new De Heus Animal Feed Plant in Ivory Coast

A hugely significant facility not just for De Heus (and its international export branch, Koudijs), for whom it will provide a new base to supply and support farmers throughout West Africa, but also for Ivory Coast and the local community as a whole, as well as internationally from a commercial perspective between the nations of Ivory Coast and The Netherlands. So it’s no surprise that the grand opening was met with great celebration by all who attended yesterday’s event, including the President-General Director of De Heus, De Heus’ CEO, The Netherlands Ambasador to Ivory Coast, the Ivory Coast Minister of Commerce and Industry, the Ivory Coast Minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries, many other dignitaries, government officials, business partners, suppliers and customers, and of course, representatives from our very own IntES team in Ivory Coast who brought this EPCM project to fruition.

EPCM Engineering Project for De Heus in Ivory Coast delivered by IntES

About the De Heus Animal Feed Plant in Ivory Coast.

De Heus’ new Animal Feed Plant in Ivory Coast is located in PK Industrial Zone in Attingue’, just outside of Abidjan. A large site covering a 3.3ha land area (of which 7500m2 are buildings), this new Greenfield development gives De Heus a starting capacity of 100,000 MT per annum, but is also designed to cope with an extended capacity allowing for future expansion in line with De Heus’ long-term plans for the region.

As the EPCM consultants on this project we were responsible for the full delivery of the project from conception to completion, including the overall project management, engineering, permitting, land surveys, tendering work packages, and construction management to name just a few of our responsibilities. We remain grateful to De Heus for putting their trust in us to deliver this new animal feed mill with them; who’s team have been fantastic to collaborate with.

EPCM for De Heus in Ivory Coast by IntES Engineering Consultants

A Project in a Pandemic

This is a truly remarkable project in that it persisted through the very height of the global pandemic. Determined to push ahead with the timeline, keep everyone safe and abide by new travel restrictions, we used all the tools, technology and effective project management skills in our arsenal to ensure this project went ahead as planned. Delivering EPCM across three continents during the worldwide COVID-19 crisis wasn’t easy. But with our usual open, transparent communication elevated by the use of the right technological assistance, our integrated team was able to stay constantly connected and manage the project in a way that kept all our data accessible and ‘real-time’ up to date. (For more information, read this article about this EPCM project produced mid-project during the pandemic).

Design, 3D Model, Groundbreaking ceremony, and construction of the new Animal Feed Plant in Ivory Coast

A Multi-National, Collaborative Success

Throughout this project, right from our initial design right through to the first operations at the new plant, our multi-national IntES team worked in complete collaboration with a fully integrated approach with the De Heus / Koudijs teams in Ivory Coast and The Netherlands. Having dedicated IntES offices in both nations allowed us to be “on-the-spot” both on the site and with our client’s head office. Supported as always by our superb IntES colleagues in our HVEC (High Value Engineering Centre) in Vietnam, this truly has been an international project team. Especially as our collaborative approach also included the contractors and suppliers from The Netherlands, Ivory Coast, Morocco, China and Vietnam. This is how we always like to work, with our team becoming integral members of the clients’ project task force, as well as with the suppliers and contractors; and in this project, as always, it has proven to produce exceptional results. A perfect example of how global engineering expertise combined with local knowledge is the recipe for success.

We are exceptionally proud of this project and delighted to have delivered it for our valued client De Heus, whom we very much look forward to working with again in the future.

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