On Wednesday, 30 March 2011, the contract for outsourcing the technical services of four Agrifirm Feed production plants to Stork Technical Services was signed. Under the terms of the contract, Stork will be responsible for all the maintenance, including asset management, at Agrifirm's production plants in Veghel, Wanssum, Maasbracht and Oss.

Agrifirm Feed has an annual turnover of 885 million euros, a workforce of more than 825 people and supplies products & services for livestock farming. The company operates a total of nine production plants spread across the Netherlands that make livestock feed . The initial feasibility studies for outsourcing the maintenance activities of the four production plants in the Southern Netherlands (formerly owned by Cehave Landbouwbelang) were carried out in December 2009. In the spring of 2010, Stork presented a concrete plan for outsourcing as well as optimising Agrifirm's maintenance activities. The plan was warmly received and served as a basis for the subsequent negotiations.

Maintenance and optimisation
The contract covers the responsibilities related to maintaining the production facilities and includes the initiation of improvement processes designed to lift the maintenance activities to a higher plane. Outsourcing is an important strategic move for Agrifirm. According to Wim Maaskant, general manager of Agrifirm Feed: “Delegating responsibility for maintenance to a specialised company will enable us to focus more on our customers. Stork Technical Services was the obvious choice. Stork has in-depth experience in providing maintenance services for organisations and factories similar to our own. The scope of the contract also extends further than just maintaining the facilities; the entire maintenance concept will be optimised.”

Thinking and Doing
Stork will set up on-site technical services and implement an optimised maintenance protocol. The thirteen-man maintenance team consists of former Agrifirm Feed employees supplemented with maintenance technicians and managers from Stork. Roy Janssen, the workgroup project leader at Stork: “Setting up a maintenance management system involves more than organising onsite technical services. We are examining every aspect of Agrifirm's maintenance, which also includes, for example, whether or not personnel should be retained. To devise the optimal maintenance plan, various departments in the Stork organisation combined their strengths – completely in line with the 'ONE Stork' concept. In this case, our slogan ‘Thinking and Doing’ has really come into its own!”