John van der Zanden first made contact with their Ethopian customers via e-mail. The customers were looking for a capacity of 2000 sheep, 250 cattle and 5 tons of processed meat per day. This including rendering and waste water treatment facilities. After some communication and providing information and first price ranges for the required production the clients made an appointment in the John van der Zanden offices.

During their visit the clients were shown available used and new equipment as well as discussing possibilities and starting engineering for the project. After 2 weeks of negotiations, John van der Zanden signed the final agreement and a down payment was sent by the client. During the discussion it was agreed to also deliver the sandwich panels and sewers as well as the tools and some machinery (forklift, front-loader, band saw etc.) as they were not locally available or very expensive.

When the engineering was completed and production started John van der Zanden visited the project site to help with the preparations of the building and surrounding areas. John van der Zanden supervisors also trained the local people for the mechanical work that was required and made sure everything was built correctly. In total 40 containers with equipment were sent to Ethiopia by John van der Zanden.

As you can see from the pictures, a lot of the labour was manual and the progress slow. From all the equipment named above only the cattle line was produced new. All other equipment was used and refurbished in house by John van der Zanden.

For an overview of the John van der Zanden company please click here to view the company brochure.

Source: John van der Zanden