Alphatech increases its production area by 2,000 m² for an investment of 6.5 million euros – Le Journal des Entreprises

Alphatech (14 million euros in 2022, 42 employees), which develops and manufactures nutritional and environmental products for livestock professionals, has increased the surface area of ​​its Plaintel unit (Côtes-d’Armor) by 2,000 m², increasing to a total of 6,000 m². The investment amounts to 6.5 million euros (3 M€ for the building and 3.5 M€ for the machines).

The extension will initially be used to manufacture environmental products (litter dryers, liquefiers for slurry and composting products) for livestock. This production has until now been allocated to the company’s other site, located in Lanrodec (Côtes-d’Armor), including Alphatech, a subsidiary of the Winfarm group (130.8 million euros in 2022, 400 employees) , was a tenant. “We have returned the keys”, informs Yann Renouvel, director of Alphatech, whose teams are now united on a single site. Winfarm, which has six subsidiaries, including Vital Concept, the French leader in distance selling for the agricultural and livestock world, bought Alphatech in 2004. The latter was then in difficulty, four years after its creation.

The extension of Plaintel, which includes a manufacturing part and a storage part, will also make it possible to consider developing new markets in the field of solid products. “We are very interested in soil and plants,” says Yann Renouvel. “This is a subject that we have been thinking about for a long time, in the continuity of our current activity, because the soil and its structure, the nutrition and health of plants and those of animals are closely linked.” Some of these new products, bio-stimulants and fertilizers, are already ready, others are being tested in the laboratory.

75% of export business

The commissioning of this new automated production workshop has taken place gradually since March, after a year of work. “We are increasing. We broke our record, it’s a junior record but we will soon break senior records,” laughs the director of Alphatech. The objective is for the new workshop to eventually produce 20,000 tonnes of products per year. Silos, mixers, hoppers, packaging machines (with a capacity of 400 bags per hour), palletizers (600 bags and 15 one-tonne pallets per hour) are some of the equipment that should make it possible to achieve this rate of cruising “with more comfort for our teams and more precision”, explains Yann Renouvel.

Alphatech has three areas of expertise: environment, health nutrition (nutritional supplements) and functional ingredients, in liquid, gel, granular or powder form. It achieves 75% of its turnover internationally, mainly in the Middle East (40% of exports) and Asia (30%), but also in Europe, Africa and, more recently, in Latin America. . “If the consumption of meat drops in France, two thirds of the planet aspire to consume animal protein”, underlines the director. The Costa Rican company, which designs and manufactures tailor-made products, is present in 64 countries. Its customers are cooperatives and distributors, who order large, medium or small series from it. “The extension will give us more agility in this area,” informs the manager. Toll manufacturing concerns product formulation but also packaging and presentation.

Poultry, main market

Its market is 60% that of poultry. “It is consumed in all religions, the products are standardized and not very expensive”, remarks Sylvain Lagadou, sales and marketing director of Alphatech. Ruminants weigh 30% of the activity and pigs 10%.

Alphatech had a good year in 2022, during which turnover increased by 20%. “There was an inflation effect and a catch-up in exports to the Middle East”, relativizes the leader. The year 2023 has started in a lower dynamic. “For the moment, it’s half fig, half grape”, resumes Sylvain Lagadou. “We had a good start in France but the financial difficulties of certain countries such as Egypt and Pakistan, caused a slowdown but these situations are unblocked.”