Seeing fertilizer production at the Everris facilities in Heerlen proved to be a real eye opener for eleven UK greenkeepers this month.
Heerlen, near Maastricht, in the Netherlands, is one of the largest controlled release fertilizer factories in Europe. Greenkeepers from some of the UK’s top golf courseswere given a behind-the-scenes tour of the plant, seeing technology and processes used by Everris in manufacturing Sierrablen and fertilizers.
The intricacies of resin coating technologies were outlined in detail, with specialist R&D staff on hand to explain how Poly-S and NPK PACE blends are used to create different products for different conditions and specific applications. Performance testing used to measure moisture, firmness, moisture and organic matter in soil levels also proved to be a talking point.
An all-important part of the factory tour is seeing the quality control operation, where extensive quality checks are carried out on all Everris products, throughout manufacture.
Technical Area Sales Manager, Lewis Blois explains, “Greenkeepers were veryimpressed by the level of QC that Everris has in place. They could see just how many checks there are and understand why these are all crucial to the manufacture of a premium product. The visit was a great opportunity for sharing experiences and advice about using our fertilizers in a variety of situations.”
Everris®, formerly known as Scotts, is an ICL Specialty Fertilizers Company, part of the ICL group with more than 11,500 people globally www.everris.co.uk