Meyn, Ishida and CSB-System to launch iPoultry Plant

The idea has been under development during the last year with pilot projects testing 50%-60% of the software modules. 

‘Big hit in the poultry processing world’

Speaking at Anuga FoodTec 2015, in Cologne, Germany, Geert Smet, meat industry manager, CSB-System, said some parts of the software are already running but the whole concept is brand new and it expects the system to be a ‘big hit in the poultry processing world’. 

“The poultry processing sector has been waiting for this total concept for many years and this is a chance to realise their wishes​,” he said. 

“A common factor in the poultry industry is that processing plants get paid for a fixed weight which has different requirements compared to other food industries​. 

“But today, family sizes are shrinking, from five or more people in one house to three or less. People don’t buy whole chickens any more but individual tray packs. So, instead of bulk merchandising we are producing smaller retail trays with a lower weight.​ 

“Also, market requirements have changed. Supermarkets tend to define what products they want according to their own specifications and packaging ideas. All of this makes it very difficult for a poultry plant to take into consideration. They need to pack 10,000 chickens per hour and still make money​.”

Three processing categories

Smet said iPoultry can be divided into three categories; pre production, production and distribution and warehousing. 

The pre production software supports the all the different processes until the bird arrives at the plant. 

“We have developed a software engine that allows processors to match supply and demand by having flock information in one system, from what types of birds, from what farms, and where they have received sales orders, to match supply and demand and identify oversold products​,” he added. 

“With this information beforehand manufacturers can change their sales activities or contact other farms and suppliers to fulfill oversold products weeks in advance​. 

“It allows suppliers to receive the correct number of birds at the plant in the right quality to produce the customer orders at the right time, giving them real-time inventory information​.”

Smet said its Flock Management module also evaluates whether to change feeding programmes and can keep track of hutch administration, any medical backlog, and tracks breeding and veterinary costs. 

“The software provides manufacturers with the maximum profit per bird and  matches the order with bird weight. iPoultry also has a multi-plant feature,  which covers several plants,​” he added. 

“Other features include line control management and OEE monitor, web-based repots, rejects and yield reports which can be downloaded onto an iPhone or portable devices​. 

“There is also maintenance management to monitor which machines are running when and preventative maintenance, to set up all your spare parts in the system so they can ordered automatically without interrupting the production process​.”