Quality product has driven expansion in all its markets, and IKO is expanding accordingly. The company has once again commissioned hatchery expansion through Pas Reform, after looking closely at proposals from a number of suppliers.

In 2008, Pas Reform specified and installed an extension to IKO’s existing hatchery operations, adding 12 SmartHatch™ hatchers to work inline with their 30-year-old predecessors. In 2011, IKO selected SmartPro™ incubators, to more than double its hatchery capacity in 2012, to 750,000 day-old-chicks per week.

Along with the production increase, the plant has modernised its cooling system, slaughter livestock unloading process, production management and packaging methods. All poultry are produced, reared and slaughtered under regular veterinary supervision, in a fully integrated environment that controls quality and conditions from the egg right through to meat production.

The company has established a daily distribution network for around 100 different, fresh and frozen products, including barbecue and smoked ranges. Besides using traditional trayed packaging with stretch plastic wrap, vacuum and bags, IKO Kompania Drobiarska also offers safe MAP, or ‘modified atmosphere’ packaging.

Ross, Cobb and Hubbard Flex eggs are transported to the hatchery from IKO’s seven breeder farms in specialised transport, with precise microclimate control during storage.

Seven broiler farms, all operating under strict veterinary supervision and to high standards of animal welfare, specialise in the production of high yield chicken.

The company produces 4,000t of feed each month, exclusively of plant origin, with cereals characterised by high nutrition values, to meet or exceed all national and international sanitary, ecological and production standards.

Hatchery Manager, Mr Piotr Jarz?bski, was responsible for selecting Pas Reform’s SmartPro™ incubation technologies. After a full year of testing against competitive systems, he says, “I have chosen the highest quality incubators, reliable and unfailing, which will work for many years with very little service.

“With these incubators, we have the level of support that allows us to focus entirely on incubation, to produce the highest quality DOC.”

Dr Marek Pospiech, Pas Reform’s representative in Poland, has worked with IKO for more than 20 years, and was not surprised that the Company took such care in selecting a partner for this latest phase of expansion. “IKO’s approach to their decision looked not only at the performance of the incubators, but also at the technical and technological services and support that different suppliers could offer.

“It is always rewarding to see Pas Reform came out on top after such rigorous evaluation – and we will continue to value our relationship with IKO highly.”

Mr Zbigniew Idziaszek, president and owner of IKO, concludes: “We know first-hand that we can rely on Pas Reform’s technology and on Pas Reform’s people.”