Today we want to take the opportunity to talk about the third letter in Sinova.

The “N” stands for Nutrition which represents an important part of our activities and value-driver within both current and future products.

 What is Nutrition?

In general protein, carbohydrates, fat, minerals and vitamins are the recognized classes of nutrients. These are necessary for animal health. Our Processed Animal Proteins contain all these classes of nutrients (carbohydrates a little less), with their main advantage being their high nutritious value and easy digestibility. For this reason, Animal Proteins have been utilized by the petfood, feed and aquafeed industry for a long time.

Our connection to Nutrition

At Sinova, animal-by products are the main resources to create nutritious ingredients. Our vision is to be a preferred partner for products in Petfood, Livestock and Aquafeed, with one key element being these digestible and nutritious ingredients.

Areas of application: Processed Animal Protein for Petfood, Animal Feed and Aquafeed

By-products of the meat and fish processing industry are transformed into animal protein, animal fat and oil. They are produced from material that is fit for human consumption at the point of slaughter, but which does not enter the human food chain for cultural or economic reasons.

PAPs are a healthy feedstuff for omnivores, such as dogs, pigs and poultry as well as for carnivores, including fish and cats. Protein is a vital part of these animals’ natural diet and can come from various protein sources, including plant-based sources such as soy. The benefit of PAP over plant-based products from a nutrition perspective is their amino acid profile (they contain all essential amino acids) and higher digestibility. Especially in young animals, PAPs contribute to healthy development and growth, supporting good animal welfare.

We deliver this nutritional value through our current technology and new innovative technologies to increase digestibility of products such as feather and bristle meal. To ensure consistency in nutrition our ever-improving Quality Control and monitoring plan is key. This makes our products trusted by our customers and fit for use in Petfood, Animal feed and Aquafeed.

Petfood

Animal proteins are a key constituent of nearly all petfood worldwide. In addition to nutritional value, Sinova PAP will influence the taste and colour of petfood which appeal to cats and dogs, an area in which Sinova is increasing its knowledge and expertise. PAPs have elevated levels of essential amino acids which supports animal growth and development. Moreover, PAP is an important organic source of phosphates which are highly digestible compared to plant origin phosphorus. High-quality feed also contributes to better health and robustness of animals. The well-being of a pet is an essential part of everyday life, and every pet deserves to have a long, happy and healthy life. Sinova tries to support these principles with the PAP delivered as an ingredient to our partners in the petfood industry.

Using only by-products of the slaughter industry ensures that no valuable proteins are lost to the human food chain, as well as reducing waste, making our business model fundamentally sustainable.

Livestock

Unlike with domestic animals, there are other requirements that farmers pay attention to with their livestock. For farmers it is important that livestock grow fast and healthily.

In addition, it must be guaranteed that the farm animal is protected as well as possible against diseases which could cost the farmer yield. In poultry and pigs’ diets, there are many types of PAPs that are beneficial for different life-stages, from breeding to full-grown animals.

Aquafeed

Our aim is to provide ingredients which help to meet the fish’s nutritional requirements, although not exactly replicating the sources of food in a fish’s natural diet. Ingredients are rigorously evaluated to guarantee that the necessary nutrients are present and in a form that is digestible by the fish. PAP from Category 3 material is an aquafeed ingredient that has better nutritional properties than vegetable proteins for fish and can also substitute for wild-caught fish in feed rations – particularly for commercially grown carnivorous fish like salmon. In aquaculture, fish like salmon cannot feed themselves and need to be provided with nutritious feed with specific PAP to deliver their needs. This results in salmon with the right colour, taste and growth-rate. Furthermore, our by-products contain essential nutrients and high value products for specific aquaculture species which can provide new high-value products. Cholesterol is a key high-value nutrient in shrimp diets and a product we are developing from our existing by-product materials.

Overall, Sinova has set itself the goal to be the preferred partner in a production chain that provides customers with a nutritious product in the Petfood, Animal Feed and Aquafeed industries, whilst always making the most of the Earth’s limited resources.

Lean@Sinova is a key part of the Sinova ONE Team culture. In order to better meet the needs of its international customers, Sinova needs to simplify its processes and harmonise its working methods:

• Adopt a common approach that guides our day-to-day activities
• Identify at first sight the high level of standards in our factories
• Anchor our ability to make decisions on facts and not on feelings

Lean management is a proven universal management method for delivering value and optimising workflows. Lean is a response to market evolution, for example the necessity to meet the clients’ needs at the lowest cost, and increased competition which in time leads to increased performance.

Taking Lean management as a tool to reach our targets, we created the Lean@Sinova approach which relies on three pillars: Management tools, Trained people and a Lean mindset. The Lean@Sinova approach is based on the field experience of a group of pilot factories within Sinova, which designed and tested a set of tools.

The project started as a pilot in 2022 and the approach will be rolled out to all Sinova factories over 2024 and 2025 with the clear target of building a strong cross-border Lean organisation. To foster a sustainable implementation and a Lean mindset, every colleague will benefit from training.

Susan Henning (Project Lead): “By working in unison and encouraging all team members to actively participate and continuously improve, we can consolidate the team spirit that drives us forward. Using a set of methods carefully designed to optimise our time will lead us all to higher standards in safety, quality, and cost leadership.”

Cesar Barroso (Pilot Factory Beguda): “With the implementation of the daily meeting we now achieve in 20 minutes what we used to do in 2 hours.”

Lean@Sinova Pilot Team:

Santiago Silva (Arteixo), Cristina Blazquez (Segovia), Susan Henning (Project Lead), Artur Fiktus (Dlugi Borek), Sebastien Maltaverne (Project Team), Antoine (Vitré), Sabine Albouy (Project Team), Regis Gebel (Illzach), Cesar Barroso and Elena Julia (Begudà)

At the Sinova Leadership Meeting in May the Project Team shared the Lean@Sinova Manual with the Sinova Leadership Community. This Toolbook explains the approach and the concrete next steps for each Sinova factory in a down-to-earth, practical and user-friendly format to support the successful implementation.

For this project, we wanted to create a symbolic and Sinova-connected identity. When looking for a symbol of the team’s commitment to Lean, which could also be a gift addressed to all Lean factories, the cherry tree came as an evidence. The vocabulary of Lean management is full of references to trees, from “root-causes” to “collecting low-hanging fruits”. Then of course, the cherry tree is intimately linked to the Japanese culture, which is the cradle of Lean management. Finally this approach is all about investing in people: requiring a lot of care and attention in the beginning, this cultural change will grow strong and bear fruits that each of us can enjoy.

More Information about Lean@Sinova can be found here: https://www.saria-sinova.com/lean/ (Passwort: Cherrytree).