3/14/2005 Business Times - PRIVATE palm oil millers need to strive tofully automate their mills to lessen dependence on manual labour.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kuiyesterday asked millers to look at the RM30 million fully-automated palmmill owned by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) in Labu, Negri Sembilan,as an example.

In his speech read out by his deputy Datuk Anifah Aman, Chin said the MPOBmill use the latest milling technology.

He said a fully-automated mill would only need 20 trained workers tooperate it unlike a manual mill which would require 60 workers.

There are about 400 palm oil mills throughout Malaysia with the majorityin Sabah.

Yesterday at Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Anifah officiated at the opening ofthe MPOB's seminar on "Promotion of Automation in Palm Oil Mills, Advancesin Breeding and Clonal Technologies for Super Yielding Planting Materialsand Practices for Super High Yielding Plantations".