What Ranchers Need to Know About Automation in Packing Plants
Ranchers put countless hours and immense effort into raising a high-quality protein source for consumers. Yet, they are only the beginning of the supply chain and what happens during the final stages of production and processing can impact the quality and quantity of beef available to consumers. This makes it important for cattlemen and women to know what challenges the end of the supply chain faces and how the product is processed before reaching the end consumer.
Brianna Buseman is a meat scientist working for Marble Technologies – a company that specializes in helping packing plants improve their processes through automation. Brianna said, “Most people’s interactions with the agriculture industry are the cheeseburgers they buy or steak they grill at home. Meat science serves as an awesome way to connect more people with the agriculture industry.” On the flip side, meat science also connects ranchers to consumer demands and perspectives which can impact future production practices as well as how meat is processed. Growing up on a family operation, Brianna sees both perspectives and is passionate about bridging the gaps between ranchers, meat science and consumers.
Automation in packing plants is most frequently trying to solve challenges related to manual labor, process efficiency, product quality and food safety. Marble Technologies mainly focuses on automating the packoff line in beef plants to reduce the need for manual labor. “In an average plant there are around 15 to 20 people whose only job for the shift is to search for and move vacuum-sealed sub-primals from the conveyor to the box and then push that box down the line,” said Buseman. To put this into perspective, employees who box clods in a 2,500-head-per-day facility handle 5,000 pieces per day at 18 to 25 pounds each. Over the course of a year, that is over 18 million pounds of beef. Implementing technology in this area of the plant reduces manual labor for employees and allows for more data collection on the product. Marble paired a hardware and software system to sort cuts and bring them directly to employees for boxing eliminating the need for employees to spend time searching for their cut. This is just one example of how automation is revolutionizing the meat industry.
Automation in packing plants is a long game despite the rapid changes in technology we see across all industries. “We didn’t go straight from listening to music on the radio to listening on Spotify. We had to go through every version of the mp3 player and iPod to get there. Likewise, we can’t go straight from manual labor to 100% automation and robotics in packing plants,” said Buseman. The main challenge with automation in established packing plants is the variance in carcass size and shape. There could easily be a 400-pound difference between carcasses which changes the processing procedure.
It’s important to note that these automations aren’t implented to eliminate employees. They allow employees to move into less physically demanding roles and create a better work environment. Packing plants aren’t overstaffed during shifts, they are usually running short handed.
Outside of automation, the meat industry is researching how different packaging and processing impacts the end quality of a product as well as different methods of extending shelf life. It’s exciting to know that the final segments of the supply chain are putting in the effort just like ranchers to ensure product quality for consumers. Learn more about Marble Technologies on their website. https://www.seemarble.com/
