MEXICO— Bühler has created a joint venture with IMDHER, a leading player in the animal nutrition market in Mexico, aimed at driving process efficiency, quality, and sustainability in the feed industry.

With 20% market share, IMDHER is a turnkey supplier to the Mexican feed market with four decades of experience building plants to produce animal feed, including pet food and aqua.

The family-owned business is specialized in the integral design, manufacture, assembly, construction, and start-up of facilities, with over 100 feed plants in Mexico, under its belt.

Bühler is buying a minority stake of 49% in the joint venture. The new company, called IMDHER Bühler, will leverage Bühler’s core machines as well as IMDHER’s expertise.

“The joint venture with Bühler represents an opportunity for us to add Bühler’s technology and solutions to our existing assets and therefore to expand the offering to our customers in Mexico’s vibrant and expanding market,” said Luis Díaz, IMDHER general manager, who will also be managing the joint venture.

Sustainably Oriented

Despite recent trends in western societies toward plant-based alternatives, animal protein remains an important part of human nutrition, and global meat consumption is rising. It is therefore essential to ensure that the animal protein value chain is as efficient and sustainable as possible.

Bühler’s expertise in feed solutions will help IMDHER’s customers produce top-quality feed while making more economical use of their raw materials and energy, thus improving the CO2 footprint of operations.

This is in line with the Swiss company’s commitment to reduce the environmental impact of all its customers’ operations with a target to reduce energy, waste, and water in customers’ value chains in all the markets it addresses by 50% by 2025.

“Our first joint projects are already under way and working well. We will not only install Bühler core machines but also enable IMDHER’s existing installed base to be connected to Bühler Insights, our central platform for connected products and services.

This will improve the efficiency of IMDHER plants, and reduce energy consumption and waste,” said Olivia Enriquez, director general, Bühler Mexico.

Mexico is the sixth biggest producer of animal feed in the world and is particularly strong in broiler and layer chickens, pigs, and dairy. Bühler has been present in Mexico since 1959. Today it has a local and dedicated team of 115 employees providing services to customers across the region, as well as Cuba and Central America.

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