A Data-Driven Approach: Enhancing Carcass Yield Management

Using Critical and Actionable Data for Enhancing Food Production

The first part of this blog series covered the use of critical and actionable data for recall management and plant operations. Having a proactive approach for managing recalls and a predictive approach to operating a food plant has significant benefits for food manufacturers. Data is one key element required in the plant-wide data-driven traceability approach. This approach enables a processor to be proactive with their recall management practices. Having the right data collection devices collecting and interpreting the data ultimately helps to improve operational efficiencies plant-wide. This second blog covers the use of critical and actionable data for enhancing plant operations and carcass yield management.

Primary Processing and Further Processing

Data is becoming a significant catalyst in transforming the food production industry. The meat production chain includes breeding, delivery of animals, primary processing, further processing, and distribution. This blog will focus on the use of critical and actionable data in the primary processing area, specifically carcass management. Production throughput, packaging line performance, and giveaway reporting will be covered in another blog. Further processing also benefits from the use of critical and actionable data, which will be discussed in another segment of this series.

Increase Plant Performance by Enhancing Carcass Yield Management

Having accurate carcass yields is the key to maintaining strong performance and delivering healthy profit margins. Typical Inaccuracies and human errors in the meat processing chain (harvesting, deboning, cutting, weighing, labeling and packing) will add up to considerable losses each day. Depending on the operations, even small amounts of waste can result in large product loss. Therefore, yield reporting and analysis are a huge part of the production manager’s daily function. Yield has a significant impact on the company’s bottom line, which makes the yield one of the most important performance indicators for financial managers. Meat producers need to find ways to reduce costs through improving yield management. They are required to collect critical and actionable data and make sense of this data for managing their yield performance.

Checkout our blog on solution integration for abattoirs! 

Yield and throughput data can provide insight for both the operations and financial side of the business. Critical and actionable data can help the Operations Team get an overview of the day-to-day operations of the plant. While these calculations also enable finance professionals to manage the overall performance of the business.

Data collection and analysis play a crucial role in improving efficiency. Plant managers require access to critical and actionable data for effectively monitoring and measuring the plant floor operations, from harvesting to weighing to packing to shipping. To collect data, from the various parts of the plant operations (i.e. harvesting, weighing, packing, and shipping) the plant engineering and information systems (IT) departments have to design and implement appropriate data collection hardware (scales, scanners, printers computers), manufacturing execution software (MES), warehouse management software (WMS), analytical software as well as an ERP system solution. When plant floor hardware and software are correctly integrated with the ERP software, they provide full visibility into plant-wide operations, including yield.

Improve Meat Production Through Carcass Grading

Carcass grading is typically used for facilitating trade in carcasses. Livestock producers receive payments based on the quality of the carcass. So, producers always look for ways to improve their production practices. Until the introduction of computing technology, the carcass grading was performed by the eye. With advanced technology, companies were able to achieve labour savings and consistent grading. Carcass grading is usually based on weight as well as measuring the fat and lean content on the harvest floor before chilling. Having data on carcass grades empowers plant managers to deliver quality products and helps finance managers accurately set the pricing for carcasses.

By having critical and actionable data available for each carcass, the grading mechanism ensures livestock producers are paid fairly based on the actual and historical data analysis reports. In addition, meat processing plants can be transparent with their livestock producers and enable them to improve practices for producing high-quality livestock. Thus, the critical and actionable data is improving the entire supply chain process from farm to fork, which ultimately delivers the best quality meat to consumers. Critical and actionable data from carcass grading helps processors compete and achieve healthy profit margins

Identifying carcasses, weighing, grading, and scanning are typical processes involved in carcass grading operations. These devices are placed in the right space to work in conjunction with powerful MES, WMS, ERP, and analytical software for collecting critical and actionable data in the carcass grading process. These technologies need to be integrated to flawlessly collect the required data for empowering plant managers, financial professionals, and livestock producers.

Seamless Technology Implementation for Data-Collection

Solution integration is the best method for implementing a plant floor data-collection system consisting of hardware and software. This approach limits risk and brings proven practices to identify the ideal data collection points in the plant. Solution integration also helps determine the right technology for data collection, and it can be a powerful tool for making sense of the collected data. Integrated solution platforms provide plant operators with data-collection at each required point throughout the plant floor. Thus, solution integration delivers a widely used integrated solution platform that will improve operations and empower recall management.

Employee Training for Adopting a Data-Centric Culture

employee training is key to any successful implementation of data collection devices and the use of a data-centric approach to improving operational efficiencies. Typically, people resist change. So, employee buy-in is the first step in the process. Secondly, selecting an in-house project champion helps to mobilize the team to embrace the data-centric culture. Finally, engaging an experienced and proven solution provider to configure and implement the solution plant-wide ensures successful delivery.

How We Can Help!

Carlisle Technology has been operating at the forefront of the data-centric culture for decades. Carlisle Technology provides fully-integrated technology solutions that streamline data collection across the entire production cycle from receiving through processing, packaging, warehousing to shipment and invoicing. Carlisle Technology offers an integrated suite of software and hardware solutions to empower the manufacturer to collect critical and actionable data from the plant floor. Partner with Carlisle Technology to make this journey a complete success in the era of data!

Written by: Kamal Krishnapillai, Business Development – Carlisle Technology