Founded in 2006 as a producer of chicken meat, Axedum covers the entire production cycle from the production of biological forage through to slaughtering and delivery of ready chicken meat. The high-quality processing systems are assured with care and dedication in a closed circuit from the grain seed to the fork. The company is in full compliance with the European standards HACCP and ISO 22000 and is also certified for HALAL. The poultry producer Axedum financed two investments through a EU4Business-EBRD Credit Line loan. The first investment amounted to €500,000 and consisted of advanced production equipment, a grader, automatic weighing and labelling equipment, packing equipment, a new transformer station and ventilation. The second investment was financed through a €200,000 loan and included additional production equipment as well as cooled delivery vehicles. Both projects were verified under COVID-19 conditions, in April 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
The timely investment and the cash-back grants helped the company continue supplying consumers in Moldova with high quality chicken meat.
With increasing disruptions in international supply chains, companies like Axedum have become quite important contributors to local food supplies. To ensure continuous operations, the company was quick to introduce strict measures to protect its workers from COVID infections and to keep the company operational.
Measures included the obligatory wearing of masks on site and also the regular changing of masks. Several digital body scanners were installed, which automatically monitor the body temperature of staff. The body temperature scanners are connected to digital screens, allowing for temperature to be measured at a distance of several meters (entrance / exit / corridors, etc.) without disturbing the workflow. Information boards inform employees about social distancing, about the use of the available sanitizers, masks and regular changing of masks and new rules with regards to breaks and dining. Under the COVID measures, employees are no longer allowed to bring food from their homes. Instead, lunch and snacks are provided in the company canteen, where groups are restricted to 10-12 people at any one time and where the lunchtimes of each group are regulated to ensure social distance.
Building on the success of the previous two investments and to expand its important role in securing the food supply to Moldovan citizens, the company is now implementing a further upgrade of its production facilities from 2,000 birds per hour to an hourly 4,000 birds processing capacity. This new €2.3 million investment, once more financed through an EU4Business-EBRD Credit Lien loan, includes new processing equipment, cooling chambers and a wastewater treatment plant.
|
