Assela Malt Factory, Ethiopia will inaugurate the 300 million birr expansion project which took 3 years expected to increase the factory’s production potential to 360,000 quintals. The factory has undergone three expansions since it was first established 28 years with an initial production potential of just 100,000 quintals.
The first expansion effort increased the total production capacity to 150,000 quintals while the first phase of the current expansion increased the capacity to 220,000 quintals.
The second phase, just completed, included the construction of 12 silos, with the potential to hold 10,000-11,000 quintals, making up a total of 28 silos. The addition of elevators and conveyors has increased the carrying capacity every hour to 300-600 quintals.
The expansion also included the installation of tankers that can soak 750 quintals at a go in addition to the 1300 quintal capacity the factory had before. The equipment installation and the commissioning work was taken care of by a foreign supplier said Kiros Abreha Tesfaselassie, Manager of Assela.The installation and the commissioning work for the factory was performed by domestic companies, Sigma Electrical Engineering plc, and Mesfin Industrial Engineering, to save foreign currency expenditure according to Kiros.
The construction for the first phase of the expansion by SA Construction Company and the second phase of the project was handled by Afro Tsion Construction he explained.
Assela will be seeking to increase its supply of raw materials to meet the demand for malt by the local breweries noted Kiros. The current production of malt is only able to meet 36% of the total demand although the new expansion will allow the factory to increase this to an estimated 55%.
Source: Addis Fortune
