Within the past 12 months we have spent a lot of time re-thinking our business strategy. Our industry suddenly had an influx of gang masters and immigrant workers. Because the workers are low paid we found we were being undercut. We realised that in order for the business to expand and to remain competitive, we had to make certain decisions as to which was the best way forward.

Eric & Ivan have always had their workers best interests at heart. Having both been ex-miners they have taken every opportunity to employ local people and to make sure everyone is on the payroll and receives a proper wage. Unlike some of our competitors who use casual labour as needed.

We took the decision to invest in better training for our men; we acquired several new vehicles, bought new high-tech air guns for vaccinating and supplied the workforce with new uniforms. We aimed to portray a more professional image. This fortunately paid off. We have gone from strength to strength.

Eric & Ivan identified a need in the market for an automated conveyor belt system. There are a huge number of birds needing to be moved at given times. Sheds, containing some 15-20,000 birds. As you can imagine the physical aspect of moving such large numbers require a lot of labour. A gang of 8-12 men go in the sheds and pick up 3 birds in each hand, carry them out of the shed and place them in modules or crates to be loaded onto a waiting lorry.

Taylor’s are an innovative company Eric & Ivan soon came up with a design for a conveyor belt system, which could move large numbers of birds quickly and efficiently. We contacted a local firm of engineers and went ahead with the development. We learnt a lot from this prototype. Ivan has designed and produced a Letter Box Conveyor, for movement of live poultry. This will make the job less physically demanding on our workforce, make us more competitive and most importantly cut down the handling of the birds, hence make for less stress all around!