"Once we had checked in at reception we were all lead through to one of their meeting rooms and the first thing that struck me was the amount of awards that Oaklands had from ‘Farmers Weekly’, ‘Food and Farming’ and ‘Pig and Poultry’ to name just a few. It was clear from that moment on we were in for a real treat and had a great opportunity to have an insight into a highly efficient egg producing business.
We met Gareth Griffiths a second generation farmer, who along with his brother Elwyn direct the business today under the watchful eye of their father Aled. Gareth started the morning visit with a brief history of the business and helped us all understand how the business has grown since his father started egg production in 1955. They are now the third largest producer of whole fresh eggs in the country. Oaklands have the largest in-line laying and packing line in Europe producing nearly 700 million eggs each year.
Mr Griffiths explained that one of their business’s key objectives was to produce a product that the market wants and to have full control of their business. This includes rearing all their own replacement hens from day old chicks, packaging, distribution and all in house marketing.
After Mr Griffiths introduced the business we had a tour round the packaging centre where the family have just invested in excess of £5 million. This gave us the opportunity to see first hand the latest technology in egg inspection, grading, packaging, labelling and boxing at a rate of 300,000 eggs per hour. The sheer scale of technology and infrastructure was something that I have never seen before, it was a real eye opener to egg packaging in the 21st Century. Some of the most interesting bits of machinery were the MOBA 500 grading machines which automatically check the eggs for cracks, dirt, blood and feathers before being graded. Eggs are then boxed and palletised by a robotic arm which can pack 3 lines of egg boxes on to three different pallets at once.
The ability to convey the eggs from the hen houses to the packing centre and dispatch the eggs the same day 365 days a year is truly remarkable at this scale. It is this offering of freshness that makes their business stand out.
It was clear to see the Griffiths family have achieved great success in their egg business from offering the customer a range of different eggs from different production systems. They have 100% traceability from farm to plate using some of the best state of the art technology.
I would like to thank the Griffiths family for their time showing us all round their truly remarkable business and giving us such an inspirational day. I know we are all better informed and appreciate more how the egg travels from the hen house to the shop shelf".
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