Meat + Poultry - April 2016 - 8

C O M M E N TA R Y

The experience
that never
disappoints
Each time I've donned a smock and hairnet, inserted
earplugs and slipped my feet into rubber boots or shoe
covers, my heart beats a little faster. The opportunity to
get an up-close perspective of the inner workings of the
industry's most innovative processing plants never gets old
or routine - dating back to my visit at what was formerly
the Swift & Co. plant in Greeley, Colorado, or when I
was eagerly touring my first pork
plant, Sioux-Preme Packing in
Iowa, and just before going out
on the floor of the former Gold
Kist poultry plant in Lakeland,
Florida. The sophistication behind
the operations where it isn't
uncommon to see thousands of
people under the same roof in a
finely orchestrated disassembly
line is nothing short of amazing
and never ceases to amaze me.
I always find myself pausing to
admire the skills of knife-wielding
pros, repeating their tasks with the
skills of accomplished craftsmen
I always find
myself pausing and displaying the toughness
of a seasoned rodeo bull rider
to admire the
and the precision and grace of
professional dancers or teams of
skills of the
knife-wielding professional athletes. I've stood
and stared in awe during tours
pros.
at Cargill's beef slaughter plant
in Schuyler, Nebraska; Dietz &
Watson's deli meat facility in Pennsylvania; Smithfield's
bacon plant in Lincoln, Nebraska; George's poultry plants
in Springdale, Arkansas; and Bar-S Foods' pork plant in
Oklahoma, and many, many more.
The well-choreographed operations are a testament
not only to the men and women who are working on the
front line of the industry's processing floors, but also to
the managers and supervisors responsible for recruiting,
hiring, training and retaining those workers who comprise

8

MEAT+ POULTRY | 04.16 | www.meatpoultry.com

the backbone of any plant.
A recent example of how an existing plant can be
reinvented to churn out millions of pounds of product is
featured in this month's cover story, focused on Tyson
Foods' Vienna, Georgia-based poultry plant (see Page 69).
What was formerly a 150,000-sq.-ft. fresh poultry plant at
the beginning of 2015, was operationally turned on its ear
and transformed to a 250,000-sq.-ft. tray-pack poultry plant
where the company invested $110 million and doubled the
workforce to 1,400 employees, all in the matter of about
seven months.
While I was given a look at the finished product
even before Tyson President and CEO Donnie Smith
stepped foot in the plant, I had heard him refer to the
project during earnings calls with analysts and in media
press conferences this past year, noting how significant
Vienna's makeover would be to the company. Seeing the
result firsthand, there is no doubt about the success in
Vienna and watching the revamped plant in operating
mode provided me with still another opportunity to
pause and appreciate.
Bill Ricken, vice president of operations who oversees
all of Tyson's raw poultry operations, summed up the
completion of the Herculean project as we finished
our tour this past month, saying: "This has been a
phenomonal success."
I'm not sure of a suitable superlative to describe the
expertise, engineering excellence and commitment to
producing world-class food throughout the meat and
poultry industry. And finding new ways of continually
improving processes by investing in people and
technology, like Tyson has done, is a dance I will never get
tired of watching.
J O E L C R E WS, E D I TO R | j c r e w s @ s o s l a n d.c o m
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat + Poultry - April 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - April 2016
