Meat+Poultry - March 2017 - 17

Cargill's turkey facility in Springdale relies on skilled labor,
but automation is increasingly playing a bigger role
BY B O B S I M S | b s i m s @ s o s l a n d.c o m

A 

number of poultry processing plants
make their home in Springdale,
Arkansas; Cargill is one of the biggest.
Ralston Purina built the facility in 1965 and
Cargill acquired it in 1976, establishing the
Wichita, Kansas-based company's roots in
Springdale, and its foray into the turkey
business. Once a cook facility, the operation
now does most everything except cook.
The Springdale facility incorporates
many manual processes due to the diverse
size and types of birds that go through the
line, but automation is making its way into
the turkey-processing operation. Cargill's
leadership team in Springdale knows this and
is ready, with approved blueprints in hand and
technology-rich equipment on hold, waiting
for just the right combination of market
conditions, demand and corporate approval to
make the plans reality. Meanwhile, efficiencies,
food safety, worker safety and engagement
and product quality take center stage at the
360,000-sq.-ft., two-shift facility that employs
1,100 and produces approximately 300 million
lbs. of finished products per year.

FULL INTEGRATION
With a hatchery in Gentry, Arkansas, breeder
farms in Gentry and Ozark, Arkansas, and feed
mills in Springdale, Arkansas, and Butterfield,
Missouri, the turkey facility benefits from an
integrated operation. From the feed mill in
Springdale, Cargill's live operation team checks
on birds and builds relationships with its
growers. Likewise, a live operation in Monett,
Missouri, services the turkey farms from that
area. "We handle the breeding stock, then we
take the eggs, we hatch our own eggs and we
take our poults and deliver them to all our
growers, our independent family farmers," says
Shane Acosta, complex general manager for
Cargill's Springdale turkey facility.
Company-wide, Cargill works with over 700
growers and roughly 150 independent growers
feed the Springdale facility with hens and big
toms. Springdale processes its big toms during

the day (first) shift. Big toms weigh in at 42
lbs. to 45 lbs. live and the second shift sees the
commercial hens at 14.5 lbs. to 16 lbs. A third
shift at the plant is for third-party sanitation.
"We process approximately 50,000 birds a
day," Acosta says. "We do 19,000 big toms per
day and we'll do right at 30,000 to 31,000 hens
on a normal basis. The hens are strictly for our
whole bird/bone in breast (BIB) operation."
The Springdale plant utilizes big toms for
further processing after deboning. Further
processing includes Cargill's assortment of
retail case-ready products such as ground
turkey, sausages, chops, patties, tray pack
parts and more. Thigh and breast meat also
get segregated into 2,000-lb. totes for cooking
at sister facilities. "We also have outside
customers we sell bulk meats to for further
processing and cooking.
"I like to tell folks, as far as this location
goes we pretty much do anything and
everything turkey that you find in the retail
package," Acosta says. "The only thing we
don't do here is cook. Everything is case-ready,
tray-packed and bulk parts."
In the shift change between big toms and
hens, equipment gets adjusted to compensate
for the size differences in birds. The heights
and widths of machines are adjusted, but no
equipment changes are made, making the
process as seamless as possible. "It's a small
window; it's 10 to 15 minutes. Sometimes we'll
walk on, walk off and leave a small gap and we
just need a five- or 10-minute window to make
all the adjustments," Acosta says.

"Despite
increased
spending on
automation,
our people
are our most
valuable
asset."
- SHANE ACOSTA

TRUE TEST-AND-HOLD
In 2011, the Springdale turkey plant recalled
over 36 million lbs. of ground turkey due to an
outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg. Since then,
the plant has extensively revamped its food
safety practices, including adding a test-and-hold
process for ground products. "To our knowledge,
we are the only turkey company that does a true
test-and-hold program for all our ground turkey
products for Salmonella," Acosta says.

Shane Acosta, complex
general manager at
Cargill's Springdale,
Arkansas, turkey
facility, has been with
Cargill for 23 years.

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