MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Lavern Affleck recently packed up his business and moved it.
That’s just the way it’s supposed to work.
Mobil Grain’s equipment acts like a movable grain elevator. Affleck, his brother, Sheldon, son, Kent, and an employee had operated in Moose Jaw since November.
But the idea is to go to farmers and their grain, so a few weeks ago Mobil Grain moved to Meyronne, further to the south.
It’s about keeping farmers’ costs down, Affleck said.
“Margins have really tightened. We wear our farmers’ hat most of the time and you feel it.”
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The Afflecks believed they could establish a business that moved grain at slim margins to save farmers money but that was still profitable for them.
“If you’re doing it correctly, a slim margin is OK,” he said.
The costs of handling grain include staffing, processing, inbound freight and outbound freight. The latter two can be so strong that they overpower everything else, Affleck said.
Farmers have to deal with the fixed location of grain terminals, deteriorating highways and escalating fuel costs when moving grain.
Affleck said Mobil Grain can move terminal-type volumes in a week, adding it is the first of its kind in the world.
It takes a couple of days to dismantle the modular components that make up the terminal, move it and set it up again.
The company needs an existing railway siding to operate, and commercially orders the rail cars it needs.
Affleck estimated that Mobil Grain can save farmers $10 to $15 a tonne. In a week, that’s $20,000 to $30,000, he added.
“Farmers are absorbing that now. It’s a big deal.”
The company has focused on lentils and peas and has not moved Canadian Wheat Board grain yet. It can process cereals and oilseeds and is looking at identity preserved wheat in the future.
It operates on a just-in-time system and carries no inventory. Within a half hour a truckload of grain can be unloaded, run through one of the four high-capacity European grain cleaners and loaded in a rail car.
The terminal operation is powered by a diesel generator. With a hand-held computer, Affleck or one of the others can operate and monitor the entire business over the web.
“All the controls are through the computer,” Affleck said. “The server gives all the commands. The system knows the pricing, the timing, all in real time.”
The industrial server is backed up constantly to another server in the company’s head office in White City, Sask. There, the information is permanently saved.
“If the main computer doesn’t run, the plant won’t run,” Affleck said.
The highly automated system allows all the invoicing and documents to be done automatically and either faxed or e-mailed. The information can be made available to either the customer or the farmer in real time.
Affleck said this also saves money because what he and his brother need just half a day per week to accomplish would normally require an office staff of three or four people.
Mobil Grain operates about 10 days a month, depending on customer demand.
At capacity, the terminal can receive, clean and load peas at the rate of one car per hour. Lentils take a little longer.
“We wanted to do a fast job but we wanted to do a reasonably good job,” Affleck said.
Grading is done on the farm and samples are taken of raw and cleaned product as it goes through the terminal.
“Our results have always exceeded expectations. Our unloads have always graded higher.”
Farmers are paid on the better grade and get their money within seven to 10 days.
The system is 100 percent traceable. The computer knows exactly what is in each compartment of each rail car.
Affleck said the company deals with the largest and best exporters but does not sell offshore. It’s part of the risk management strategy to let someone else handle those types of sales.
Farmer support has been good, which is why Mobil Grain moved to Meyronne, where it will work with Great Western Railway.
Eventually, it will move again.
“To stake your future on one particular site is risky,” Affleck said, noting the number of pulse processing plants that went out of business.
There were naysayers when the company began but Affleck said the first six months have proved them wrong.
“Our hunch was right,” he said.
“It’s working.”
