Feed

BESTMIX® Feed: Least-cost

formulation and optimisation software

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 BESTMIX Feed ®

Least-cost formulation and optimisation software

The current Internet age offers a host of new possibilities for developing a
perfect partnership with your customers: optimum communication,
the prompt generation and provision of decision-support information, etc.
As a feed producer you will rightly be wondering whether your current
formulation package capitalises adequately on this and will offer you
sufficient continuity in the future.
BESTMIX® is an advanced least-cost formulation and optimisation
package. The package has been known for years throughout the world for
its extremely powerful functions. Now, thanks to the latest technologies,
the strength of this package has also been combined with a highly
practical and extremely user-friendly user interface.

" Least-cost formulation

and optimisation:
power + simplicity "
Best quality at lowest prices
With BESTMIX Feed you get the most out of critical data to help your customers achieve their goal: top
performance of their animal stock.

The existing BESTMIX package has been completely re-developed.

• now for Window
• the new-generation software combines power with ease of use;
• thanks to easy data conversion, the smooth transfer of your current
formulation software to BESTMIX Feed is guaranteed.

Ease of use above all

BESTMIX Feed has been designed with the principle of Windows Explorer in mind. In BESTMIX Feed, there
are no traditional screen menus. You navigate directly through the data. Thanks to filters, you can very
quickly find the data you are looking for and then process them directly. You can also manage all
the information related to one data-element on one single screen. That means no more switching between
different screens all the time! As for the more complex functions, built-in Wizards will guide you step by step
to your desired end result.

Easy to learn
BESTMIX Feed is easy to learn. You will immediately recognise the look and feel of the current Office
applications. This will allow you to start using the package straight away. New users and temporary staff will

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 also be productive from the word go. Even users who only use BESTMIX Feed occasionally will also feel
immediately at home with the package. And if you have a question, just look it up in the extensive on-line
help. Quick and convenient!

No frontiers
BESTMIX Feed is a multilingual product. The user interface can be translated into any language.
Four languages come as standard. In addition, data descriptions can be entered in multiple languages.
This means that all users can use the system in their own language. Reports too are multilingual. This lets
you keep your customers up-to-date via quality reports in their own language. Satisfied compound feed
companies from more than 60 countries use BESTMIX Feed to develop a perfect partnership with their
customers - in their own language!

Create your own house style

All reports are designed graphically within BESTMIX Feed. You can choose which fonts and typestyles you
want to use. BESTMIX Feed comes with a large number of standard reports. As a user you can adapt
the layout of these reports to your liking. For example, you can integrate company logos and other graphics
into your reports, thereby creating your own instantly recognisable house style. You can also define
your own remarks or informations, which can then be printed out on the reports as you wish.

Integration with Office

BESTMIX Feed is extensively integrated with Microsoft Office. Any table can be exported to an Excel sheet.
Reports can be e-mailed to colleagues or customers. In this case, reports are sent as PDF files. You can
also attach Office documents to specific data elements. These documents can then be consulted within
BESTMIX Feed. In this way you can create a link between a data element and additional information on
the Web.

Communication

BESTMIX Feed can use any printer set up in the Windows operating
system. This means you do not need to set any extra parameters in order to
Email Printer Fax print your reports. The report component helps you generate documents that
can be published directly on the Internet. This makes it easier to keep
your Intranet or Internet site up-to-date.
VISIO CORPORATION

E-Mail Message Printer Output Fax Output

With this component, you can also quickly and easily create export files. Each report can be exported in
different formats, e.g. in PDF, Word, Excel, Text or HTML format. This means that at any time, you can send
data to other packages, update your website or modify your brochure.

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 Nutritional support
BESTMIX Feed is an open system. This means that you can easily
receive or send data from and to external companies. This is
necessary if you want to include your knowledge supplier's details
in BESTMIX. A Wizard will guide you step by step through
the import or export process. Just before the actual import the
details will appear for you to check and verify on screen.
Within BESTMIX it is possible to manage several ingredient
matrices. At the click of a mouse, you can have a detailed
assessment of your composition made using your own or
your knowledge supplier's matrix as you wish.

Always the right values

Within BESTMIX Feed it is possible to input and manage calculation formulas. These calculation formulas
allow you to calculate feed values and other derived nutrients. The calculation formulas are stored in
an easily readable form, making them easy to check and modify.

'OK in de DS (OK_ds)
Nutriënten.OK_ds = 1000 - Nutriënten.RAS_ds - Nutriënten.RE_ds -
Nutriënten.RVET_ds - Nutriënten.RC_ds

Here too you can fall back on your knowledge supplier: you can enter your supplier's calculation formulas at
the touch of a button. This means you can closely monitor and apply developments in feed technology.

Security above all

BESTMIX Feed is a secure product. Before the data are
incorporated into the database, you will always see a preview of the
end result. There are no unpleasant surprises because you always
know what data will be changed. The change date and the person
making the change are also recorded.

If you allow multiple users in BESTMIX Feed, you can set access to
the data and the functions for each user group using
the available security features. This avoids crucial data being
accessible to just any user.

A multi-user package does not mean that you have to log in as a user each time. Because it is optimally
integrated with the underlying Windows system, BESTMIX Feed can use the user information you already
entered when you logged into Windows.

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 Optimum data management
BESTMIX Feed uses an open database: no more data restrictions! You can
combine the data into data groups, making it easy to find specific data files. As a
user, you can also create new databases yourself. This can be useful if you want to
set up a test environment independently of your operational data files. Another
advantage of using open databases is that data protection can now be included in
your standard company operating procedures. This means you always have a
recent backup of your data.

Extensive search function

If you are unable to find a data file in the database, you can specify extensive search criteria with the 'find'
function and perform a targeted search. For example, you can search for ingredients with a protein content
on a product basis greater than 15%. Or you can search for ingredients that were amended this week.

Automatic processing
You have the option of defining 'Jobs'. Within a 'Job' you can specify which actions must be carried out.
You can have these 'Jobs' carried out later or automatically using the Communication Service's 'Scheduler'
function.
For example, you can automatically optimise a number of recipes, convert these recipes into production
orders and automatically generate the required labels in the required languages.

Multi-site
BESTMIX Feed allows you to manage the data for several plants. In other words, you can define an
unlimited number of plants and then manage analysis values, prices and availability for each plant.
The production orders and associated labels are generated for each plant. You can use different templates
for each plant, which means the relevant information for each plant is available in a distinctive, recognisable
form.

From family business to multinational ...

For more than 30 years, ADIFO has been supplying innovative profit-consolidating optimisation tools on
a world-wide level. Through practical experiences being exchanged between people from both small and
large firms over many years, BESTMIX Feed has developed into a world-leader in its sector. Thanks to
BESTMIX's modular structure, you only purchase the components you really need. If you are looking for
user-friendly software that can respond to your organisation's every growth, choose BESTMIX Feed.

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 Sales support
BESTMIX Feed can be installed both on central computer systems and on personal laptops. This makes
BESTMIX perfect for use in supporting the external services in their commercial activities.

If you have implemented BESTMIX in this way, and are

therefore using multiple installations of BESTMIX Feed, you
can synchronise data between all these installations
through the Communication Manager. In this way you
ensure that the data on the various systems are always
up-to-date. This allows the updated data in the central
system to flow automatically to the external services
versions and vice versa.

The most important function available for these field workers is 'Ration optimisation and calculation' and
'liquid feeding'.

In modern animal feeding, a close eye is kept on feed costs and

the composition of the feed. Each farm is aiming to give its stock
the best possible ration at the lowest possible cost. In practice this
means that you are looking for the optimum ration that consists of
farm's own roughages, wet concentrates and concentrates.
The concentrates must be tailored to the greatest extent possible to
the quality of the roughages and the performance of the livestock.
BESTMIX Feed allows you to simultaneously optimise the
composition of the ration and the composition of the complement.
This guarantees the farmer the lowest possible feed cost!

This also enables you to provide the farmer with accurate

advice in relation to the purchase of by-products so that he
only buys those with the desired quality and feed value at
the right price.
Integrating this functionality into your central optimisation
package means that all the central data are available to
optimise precisely that 'concentrate' which the farmer needs
to get the most from his animals.

BESTMIX Feed creates a bridge between

the farmer's need to produce top-quality animals and
the economic reality of the farm and the market.

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 BESTMIX Multiblend
MULTIBLEND is a least cost formulation technique, used by purchasers and productions managers to
determine the optimal ingredient allocation. For many years now, this proven tool is a standard and a must
for every feed compounder.
By combining the experience and the insight of purchasers and production managers, in their demanding
role in leading feed companies, with the possibilities of today’s information technology, ADIFO has lifted this
tool to a higher standard.

• Advantages

The high level of interactivity enables the user to explore every detail, to change it and to restart the least
cost optimisation. The powerful solver gives an instant result, so that you can evaluate many
alternatives. This way, your purchase and production decisions are solidly founded and your job
efficiency increases.
Thanks to the possibility to integrate the input and the output in only one form, you can keep track of the
situation at all times.
The ‘priority’ rule makes sure that the current ingredient stock will be used first before additional
quantities are purchased. This extremely powerful function is very time-saving and avoids the task of
having to enter global constraints to control the ingredient flow in the company.

BESTMIX Multiblend is the first least cost formulation software that integrates the optimisation results
into a multidimensional information cube. This modern and advanced tool gives you full drilldown
functionality to the optimisation results. This way, you obtain full insight in relevant data, without getting
tied up in details.

Multiblend is perfectly integrated in the production workflow. You can therefore automatically generate
production orders and declaration labels of the modified compounds. The “time to production” is thus
reduced to a minimum.

This MULTIBLEND optimisation module of BESTMIX is an empowering and time-saving solution.

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 BESTMIX Feed: The core functionality
From compound feed to product . . .

Compound feed:
• Composition
• Analysis
• Sensitivity
• Extra Nutrients

Product:
• Composition
• Rounded
• Batch weight
• Dosing parameters
• Automatic action

• BESTMIX Feed makes things ultra-easy for you, because the functions for managing and optimising
compound feeds are combined in a single screen. This means that you can call all the functions for
adding and removing ingredients, introducing restrictions, optimising, etc. from this one screen.
• For each ingredient, you will also see the key nutrients. Using the 'nutrient selector' you can choose
which nutrients you wish to see. This allows you to make an initial check of the accuracy of the data
you are using.
• From here you can also zoom in on the details of an ingredient. At that point you have access to all
the information on the ingredient. After making your adjustments, you return to the main form, where
the changes are incorporated and applied.
• The optimisation result consists of the composition as well as the analysis. Both are on a single form.
This means you can directly see the effects of a change in ingredient requirements on the analysis and
changes to the nutrient requirements on the composition.

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 . . . from product to label:

The process of converting an optimised composition into a usable production recipe is known as rounding.
During this process, the optimal composition is recalculated on the basis of pre-entered dosing parameters.

A historical record of the product thus obtained is created. This means you always have access to
the history of successive products. Each product also has its own declaration. You can therefore generate
labels interactively for each product. These labels can contain graphic elements such as logos, barcodes,
images, etc. The composition, analysis, costs and texts are generated automatically. You can then adjust
layout and content alike to your own requirements.

Layout: what you see is what you get:

Data selection:

Label:

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 BESTMIX Feed: what does it mean for you?
BESTMIX Feed is a multifunctional package. Is your business large? Is it small? Do some people perform
more than one function each? No matter. All functions within your firm will benefit from this package.
Every department has constant access to up-to-date information and everyone can see precisely
the information they require.

• Management

In the current business climate you as a manager are striving on the one hand for greater efficiency and
savings and on the other to strengthen your corporate organisation further.
By using BESTMIX Feed, the various departments have access to up-to-date information at all times,
which means they are perfectly in tune with each other and can therefore work much more efficiently.
You also have a product archive that contains highly interesting decision-support information.

• Nutrition

As a nutritionist you are on the front line between purchasing and production. With the powerful functions
BESTMIX Feed offers, you can adapt compound feeds to changing circumstances quickly and flexibly.
BESTMIX Feed also enables you to manage and if necessary modify the underlying feed value
calculation formulas in a highly readable form.

From R&D you can monitor scientific developments in relation to feed and translate these to your own
situation. It is extremely important for you that all research of relevance to your business, both internal
and external, is in a structured manner and is available for the decision-making model for purchasing and
production.

For you, BESTMIX Feed means:

• That you can generate the required data at the push of a button;
• That you can react quickly to changing nutritional opinions;
• That you can react quickly to changed production situations.

• Purchasing

Never before has optimisation been so accessible and easy. BESTMIX Feed enables you to assess
alternative ingredients in the main compound feeds so that you can make the right purchasing decisions.
You can select your own database so that your simulations never conflict with current production recipes.

• Production

BESTMIX Feed gives you the quantities for the recipes to be produced. These data can be provided in
the form of structured reports or sent to the processing computer electronically. This gives you a
complete overview of the compound feeds to be produced and you can be sure that the new production
recipes are sent to the processing computer without error.

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 • Sales / controlling

To be able to draw up effective plans you need to pre-calculate short-term and medium-term margins.
With BESTMIX Feed you can calculate accurate gross margins based both on production compositions
and on optimised compositions.

• Quality control

By linking the lab's quality parameters back to BESTMIX Feed, you can compare and if necessary adjust
the discrepancies between the analysis values used and the required quality at any time.

• ICT

BESTMIX Feed is installed and updated fully automatically. This keeps the installation time to
a minimum. When a new version is installed, the data are automatically converted.

BESTMIX Feed can be integrated perfectly into your organisation. Data can be exchanged between
BESTMIX Feed and external applications via the Communication Manager.

Thanks to its 3-tier architecture, BESTMIX Feed can also be used as an underlying application for Web
applications.

BESTMIX Feed can be used as a single-user or multi-user package. As a single-user, BESTMIX Feed
can easily be installed on a laptop. As a multi-user version, BESTMIX Feed can be installed on
the network or on a central Terminal Server or Citrix Server.

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 Contact us
We can be contacted at one of our offices below.

Belgium and international

Adifo N.V., Industrielaan 11b, B-9990 Maldegem, Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)50 303 211 Fax: +32 (0)50 711193

The Netherlands
Ofida B.V., Postbus 5486, 6802 EL Arnhem, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)26 3653506 Fax: +31 (0)26 3653507

Germany
Adifo GmbH, Schlachthofstraße 4, 38855 Wernigerode, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)3943 935670 Fax: +49 (0)3943 935666

adifo@adifo.be www.adifo.com

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