businessmirror.com.ph; September 2, 2015 0 150

A Mindanao-based local company has been manufacturing agricultural equipment and machineries with nearly all parts fabricated in the country using locally produced steel parts.

Save for bearings and electrical wiring, Edisons Machine Works Corp. in Cagayan de Oro City uses locally produced steel products and employs Filipino engineers and machine workers to manufacture agricultural equipment since 2009.

“Since we manufacture all sorts of machineries and equipment, we decided to establish Grainsco to focus on the agricultural-related implement,” said Jeffrey T. Chan, vice president and COO of Edisons, parent company of Grainsco.

Through Grainsco, the company produces post-harvest equipment, such as fluidized bed grain dryers, rice-husk cyclonic furnace, heat exchangers, axial fans, rice mill polishers and grain whiteners.  The state-of-the-art equipment are also environment-friendly. For instance, its rice-husk furnace uses corn cobs and rice husk for fuel, making it a dryer of choice for many local rice and corn cooperatives not just in Mindanao, but also in Luzon, Chan said.

Grainsco, however, could not avoid using imported bearings. The company sought the Department of Science and Technology’s help regarding the matter.

In an interview, Science Secretary Mario G. Montejo said bearings use high-quality steel, and except for few large foreign-owned companies in the country that can manufacture high-grade steel in small quantities, locally made bearings remain unavailable in the Philippines.

“But we are working on that right now,” Montejo said.  The company itself is a recipient of the DOST’s [Department of Science and Technology] assistance amounting to P64.7 million for the procurement of a balancing machine. The DOST provided an interest-free loan of P2 million. The agency also trained Grainsco’s people in the use of the balancing machine. The horizontal hard-bearing balancing machine reduces errors in component alignment, resulting in precise-fitted components, prolonging the usability of the resulting equipment or components.

The DOST is also helping the company improve its overall technological capacity, to be able to manufacture other industrial equipment and machineries. The company’s rice-grain dryer is particularly in demand, as it sold some 15 units last year. Each rice-grain dryer costs between P5 million and P6 million, depending on the client’s specifications.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) occasionally orders farming equipment from Grainsco for several of its mechanization projects. Grain millers and rice-trading companies and farmers’ cooperatives are regular clients.

Earlier, the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech), an attached agency of the DA, said the agency’s goal is to mechanize paddy-rice production to increase annual output by 5 percent.

According to PhilMech Executive Director Rex L. Bingabing, “Reducing postharvest losses can potentially add another 5 percent to palay output at the farm level.”

Aside from reducing the “drudgery” in land preparation, planting and harvesting, Bingabing said mechanized rice planting can also help farmers cope with the effects of climate change. He also said that when the DA started its mechanization program in 2011, “we shouldered everything, from equipment design to fabrication, but now, a number of local manufacturers are already participating in the fabrication stages, as more farmers are starting to realize the benefits of farm equipment.” (by Alladin S. Diega)

Source: Rice-processing equipment made in PHL