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Maximising the Efficiency of the UK Sugar Beet Supply Chain Paul Fishpool

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Maximising the Efficiency of the UK Sugar Beet Supply Chain Paul Fishpool A Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust UK Report Award sponsored by Richard Lawes Foundation Maximising the efficiency of the UK Sugar Beet supply chain Paul Fishpool July 2016 NUFFIELD NUFFIELD FARMING SCHOLARSHIPS TRUST (UK) TRAVEL AWARDS “Nuffield” travel awards give a unique opportunity to stand back from your day to day occupation and to study a subject of interest to you. Academic qualifications are not essential but you will need to persuade the Selection Committee that you have the qualities to make the best use of an opportunity that is given to only a few – approximately 20 each year. Awards are open to those who work in farming, growing, forestry, or otherwise in the countryside, and sometimes to those working in ancillary industries, or are in a position to influence those who do. You must be resident in the UK. The normal age range is 25 to 45 but at least one younger candidate each year will receive an Award. You must have spent at least 2 years working in a relevant industry in the UK. Pre- and post-graduate students are not eligible for an Award to support their studies. The Nuffield Arden Award is unique in that there is no age restriction and the subject is set by the Selection Committee. An Arden Award is offered every 2 years. Full details of all Awards can be seen on the Trust’s website: www.nuffieldscholar.org. Application forms can be downloaded and only online submission is accepted. Closing date for completed applications is the 31st July each year. A Nuffield (UK) Farming Scholarships Trust Report “Leading positive change in agriculture. Inspiring passion and potential in people.” Date of report: July 2016 Title Maximising the efficiency of the UK Sugar Beet supply chain Scholar Paul Fishpool Sponsor Richard Lawes Foundation Objectives of ñ Understand the principles of an efficient sugar beet and cane Study Tour supply cane from field to factory or mill. ñ Benchmark the UK Industry against other sugar beet and cane producing countries. ñ Understand new and innovative techniques in the sugar beet and cane supply chains. ñ Develop and introduce new ideas into the UK sugar beet supply chain. ñ Determine how to operate the most efficient supply chain, from field to processing site in the UK sugar beet industry Countries Visited USA, Australia, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Slovakia and Spain Messages ñ The UK sugar beet supply chain is hugely complex, involving many stakeholders but must introduce change in order to compete post-2017. ñ Total visibility of the whole supply chain is critical to improving its efficiency ñ A better-planned and co-ordinated approach also needs to be adopted to improve machinery utilisation and efficiency ñ Flexibility, planning and communication are key to improving beet scheduling in the UK ñ Harvesters and cleaner loaders are massively underutilised and different working practices need to be adopted ñ Haulage is key to the whole supply chain. By adoption of new working methods and techniques, efficiency can be increased. Table of contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Background to my study subject ......................................................................................... 2 Chapter 3: My study tour: which countries and why? .......................................................................... 4 Chapter 4: An efficient supply chain – what do we mean? ................................................................... 6 Chapter 5: The sugar beet supply chain – what does this include? ...................................................... 7 5.1: Harvesting .................................................................................................................................. 7 5.2: Storage ..................................................................................................................................... 10 5.3: Cleaner loaders ........................................................................................................................ 13 5.4: Delivery to the factory via haulage vehicles ............................................................................. 14 Chapter 6: How can we make the supply chain more efficient? ......................................................... 18 6.1: Harvester best practice ............................................................................................................ 19 6.2: Increased harvester utilisation ................................................................................................. 22 6.3: Increased cleaner loader utilisation ......................................................................................... 26 6.4: Haulage optimisation ............................................................................................................... 27 6.4.1: Haulage utilisation ............................................................................................................ 27 6.4.2: Fuel efficiency ................................................................................................................... 30 6.4.3: Maximise payload ............................................................................................................ 32 6.4.4: Longer opening hours ....................................................................................................... 35 6.5: Just in Time (JIT) harvesting and delivery ................................................................................. 38 6.6: Strategic long term storage ...................................................................................................... 52 6.6.1: Beet storage - conventional piles ...................................................................................... 52 6.6.2: Beet storage – storage sheds ............................................................................................ 54 6.7: Back loading ............................................................................................................................. 56 6.8: Logistic management systems ................................................................................................. 58 6.9: Improved beet supply scheduling ............................................................................................ 61 6.10: Better planning and grower group optimisation .................................................................... 63 Chapter 7: Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 65 Chapter 8: Recommendations ............................................................................................................ 67 Chapter 9: After my study tour ........................................................................................................... 69 Chapter 10: Executive Summary ......................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 11: Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 71 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 72 Table of figures Figure 1: The author, Paul Fishpool ...................................................................................................... 1 Figure 2: EU sugar production per country. Source http://www.comitesucre.org/site/wp- content/uploads/2016/03/SUGAR-STATISTICS-2015.pdf ..................................................................... 2 Figure 3: A six row sugar beet harvester ............................................................................................... 7 Figure 4: Effect of harvest date on beet yield in 4 experiments: Morley Research Centre 1997-1999. (BBRO Growers Guide 2014) ................................................................................................................. 8 Figure 5: Results of 2015/16 Harvester Assessments. British Sugar 2015. ........................................... 9 Figure 6: Results of 2015/16 Harvester Assessments showing average harvest losses by soil condition and type 2015. British Sugar 2015 ........................................................................................ 9 Figure 7: Effect of beet injuries - caused by a cleaning turbine - on sugar losses during storage of sugar beet at 10oC. The losses are calculated from CO2 production. (Source Huijbregts, 2008) ....... 10 Figure 8: Harvester results from Beet Europe. (Ziegler, 2012) ............................................................ 11 Figure 9: A typical curve for sugar losses caused by respiration during storage of sugar beet. (Source Huijbregts, 2009) ................................................................................................................................ 12 Figure 10: Lengths of beet storage in the UK: (a) and their breakdown by delivery date (b) where the numbers on each bar indicate the mean number of storage days. British Sugar 2008. ............... 12 Figure 11: Results of cleaner loader – initial value: soil tare – 7.5%; root breakage – 2.1% (Ziegler, 2012). .................................................................................................................................................. 13 Figure 12: A conventional cleaner
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