Dr Antje founded Dr Eckel GmbH in 1994 from humble beginnings in her own home. She has built up the business ever since then, remaining as the sole shareholder. In 2003 the offices were built, then in 2005 a warehouse was erected for stocking products. In 2009 production began and in 2014 the offices were expanded with an additional floor and outhouse on the current site in Niederzissen.

1. D
r Antje founded Dr Eckel
GmbH in 1994 from humble
beginnings in her own home.
She has built up the business
ever since then, remaining as the sole
shareholder. In 2003 the offices were built,
then in 2005 a warehouse was erected for
stocking products. In 2009 production began
and in 2014 the offices were expanded with
an additional floor and outhouse on the
current site in Niederzissen.
All Dr Eckel’s own-brand products are
produced on this single site and exported
to customers all around the world. By the
offices there is a pond with much plant life
and bird life too – even ducks visit. A legacy
of the development is a former wooden pre-
fabricated office. It now fulfils a great role for
on-site seminars and meetings with custom-
ers, distributors and Dr Eckel staff.
Quality is key
In every section of the site we went to,
the quality and standards were impressively
high. All machines, parts in the production
facility and materials were of the best qual-
ity. Dr Antje herself said that she tours the
production facilities once a week as part of
the oversight procedures. The production
tower has three floors (not including the
ground floor) and is quite a landmark in
the vicinity.
There are delivery doors and a control
centre. The systems can be controlled by
iPads but this is not normally done. Audits
are carried out for the requirements of cus-
tomers. On average, 20 tons of animal feed
products are produced here daily. Everywhere
we looked there was large-scale, high-quality
machinery. Quality is a constant theme here,
and such an investment will undoubtedly
arrive at the end user.
Global growth
Dr Eckel is an international company
through and through. Its markets are diverse
and constantly expanding. Although its first
customers were on the German-speaking
market, it is now expanding internation-
ally. Marketing and PR director Sarah Mertens
explained that Dr Eckel have an area manager
for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking coun-
tries in Central and South America and they
are keen to expand activity in the region -
especially in Aquaculture!
Dr Eckel today
Touring the site, it was clear that several
strong missions drive the culture at Dr Eckel.
First, ‘Ecknowlogy®’ is prevalent everywhere.
This registered trade name is Dr Eckel’s own
moniker for their blend of knowledge and
technology in animal nutrition. It features in
production, in the materials and information.
Customers instantly see specialist scientific
know-how combined with first-class customer
service.
The current warehouse holds one month’s
stock. Delivery is based on a ‘just-in-time’
system. The warehouse has many solar panels
on its rooftop, which supply sustainable solar
energy to the warehouse itself.
Aquaculture
Dr Eckel’s customers are mostly industry
buyers; we were told that only in Asia does
the company sell directly to end-users. Dr
Eckel is also well aware of Asia’s potential for
aquaculture. Recently, the Anta® aquaculture
product range has been developed with a
particular awareness of the large weighting of
aquaculture in the Asia region. To this end,
Dr Eckel have permanent staff in Asia such as
Andreas Lewke and Yuwei Liao.
After Dr Antje Eckel herself, we were
introduced to Sarah Mertens, Dr Tilman Wilke
and Monika Korzekwa. This group acted as
our guides and provided great detail in their
answers to questions. Monika Korzekwa told
me her personal story: after a Masters degree
thesis on Dr Eckel’s products with a study on
quail, both she and the company agreed it was
aquaculture industry
The International Aquafeed team visits
Dr EckelInternational Aquafeed magazine
visited Dr Eckel GmbH on-site
on Friday 12th June. Founder and
Managing Director of the feed additive
company, Dr Antje Eckel welcomed the
team and gave a guided tour of the Dr
Eckel site.
38 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | July-August 2015

2. inevitable that she should continue with them.
As a highly qualified animal nutritionist with
experience of Dr Eckel from her university
days, it seems Monika is a real asset to the
future development of the company.
Aquaculture facilities
The aquaculture area in one half of the
warehouse houses an aquarium for first-stage
trials. This is where Dr Tilman Wilke primarily
undertakes his work on new formulations and
product trials. Tilman told me that the ease of
working on species at the place of production
enables a quick and efficient transfer of inno-
vative new compounds from the laboratory
to production.
Next to the aquarium is a small laboratory
with medium-size mixers and pre-treatment
facilities for compound mixtures, thereby
eliminating the need to always go over to the
large production tower to use the large-scale
mixer. Most importantly, Dr Eckel’s various
academic partners around the world carry out
analysis independently.
According to Dr Tilman Wilke, Dr Eckel’s
aquaculture efforts intensified and increased in
2013. This meant providing more solutions for
aquatic animal feeds in this growing industry.
When we visited the aquarium, the tanks
were being cleaned and disinfected, between
housing tilapia and shrimp species. The shrimp
were at that time in the quarantine phase and
they were due to be transferred around a
week or two later (mid-June) for trials.
Dr Eckel’s research
and development
Growth trials, weight-gain development and
feed efficiency studies are the most common
types of trials conducted. In total, there are
sixteen tanks in the aquarium. The aquarium
was developed with support from the German
Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy.
As Dr Bernhard Eckel said in a press
release:
“With this aquarium facility and our expe-
rience from international animal nutrition we
can contribute to the sustainable and healthy
nutrition of fish and shrimp. At the same time
this production will boost consumer confi-
dence in aquaculture”.
At the site, single heaters maintain tem-
perature with aeration systems as well to
re-circulate and clean the water. The fully
controlled station is shown in the accompany-
ing photographs.
Regular engagement
Other species such as tilapia have also fea-
tured in recent trials. As readers of International
Aquafeed will know, Tilman has had aquaculture
articles published in this magazine – a recent and
successful article from the January-February issue
focused on phytogenics and natural additives,
with many proven benefits for shrimp farming.
Tilman is also actively representing Dr Eckel
by speaking at industry conferences and giving
presentations. Recently, he gave a presentation
in New Orleans at the World Aquaculture
Society’s (WAS) ‘Aquaculture America’ confer-
ence in February of this year.
In Asia, Dr Eckel have reciprocal agree-
ments for research and development as
well as their own staff and office for the
aquaculture market. This regional office was
established in 2011 because of the growth of
their export sales to Asia. In Thailand, trials –
especially with shrimp – are being undertaken
to assert evidence-based results.
Kasetsart University in Thailand has com-
pleted a series of trials with Anta®Phyt
and Anta®Ox on pacific white shrimp in
challenge trials after after the shrimp are
exposed to Vibrio parahaemolytius patho-
gens. With observations of improved growth
performance and improved survival rates and
immune responses in the test groups, the
evidence shows results that bring benefits to
Dr Eckel’s customers.
It was a privilege to have the tour and
insights into the culture, scientific knowledge
and technical expertise that powers Dr Eckel
forward in aquaculture.
July-August 2015 | INTERNATIONAL AQUAFEED | 39