Meat + Poultry - August 2009 - 46

DAKOTA PROVISIONS

producing tubs for one of the largest
food companies in the country today,"
he adds. "We maxed out our production for those folks one week at close
to 600,000 lbs. of 9-ounce tubs."
About 55 percent of products produced at the Huron plant are valueadded. "We're co-manufacturing about
40 percent RTE fi nished product;
about 5 percent of our product goes
to retail; 15 percent into foodservice.
We still have about 40 percent of our
product that's going out raw."
All exported products are raw and
are sent to Mexico and the Caribbean.
"We export 600,000 to 700,000 lbs.

Video monitoring for
safety, quality
Video monitoring throughout the
150,000 sq. ft. Huron, S.D. plant is one
major advantage Dakota Provisions
holds over its competition. The facility is audited daily by Arrowsight, a
Mt. Kisco, N.Y.-based, Web-based application services provider and leading developer of remote viewing services and software. Daily reports are
sent to management on a wide range
of critical in-plant activities.
Ken Rutledge, Dakota Provisions
president and CEO, explains the company's board of directors and executive committee wanted to build a
facility incorporating the latest technology to ensure safe food production while providing employees a safe
work environment.
"Video monitoring seemed to be
a logical fit into that mindset," he
adds. "Arrowsight explained how
their system operated and it was
very encouraging to our board and
executive committee. We installed
the system based on the initial discussions with Arrowsight."
Dakota Provisions' facility currently
contains 51 camera sites. "Arrowsight
reviews the data each day and provides us with a report the following
morning about 'exceptions' in our
plant," Rutledge says.
46

MEAT&POULTRY

August 2009

Over the last three years, Dakota Provisions has
worked to move more of its raw materials into RTE
product. The plant is currently utilizing about 60
percent of its further processed RTE capability.

Arrowsight sends auditing reports
to Dakota Provisions on its live dock
animal handling, employee hygiene,
deboning, trim-line efficiencies, proper handling of product throughout
the plant, bacterial intervention steps,
each slice room's handling of prod-

uct, compliance from each camera location and the detail of compliance.
Company executives receive the exact
portion of the videos containing any
noncompliance.
"Because our slicing rooms are
super-critical, we have three cameras located in each slicing room,"
Rutledge says.
Employees are notified they will be
video-monitored when they're hired.
"We have not experienced any real
difficulties with that policy," Rutledge
says. "Employees tend to work as if the
cameras weren't there. We try to utilize

www.MEATPOULTRY.com

the video system as a positive reinforcement for the employees with training
and retraining focused on helping us to
do the job right the first time."
Dakota Provisions has repositioned
cameras and added cameras as needed in the facility and will continue to
do so in the future. "The system has
helped us identify areas in the plant
that required added oversight and had
potential safety issues," Rutledge says.
"The video monitoring systems help us
to identify areas of concern, address
those areas on a timely basis and provide a better and safer environment for
our employees and customers."
Video monitoring has also yielded
several unanticipated benefits along
the way. "We have reduced our workers comp slip and fall accidents, which
are major problems for most poultry
companies in the U.S. They are almost
non-existent on our plant," says Chet
Coolbaugh, vice president of operations.
"Part of the reason for this success is
we have the video monitoring system
in place and can identify areas in the
plant where slips and falls might occur."
"We focused on yield improvement
in our plant and the cameras are beneficial in identifying areas where training or retraining may need to occur,"
Rutledge adds "We certainly have done
a great job in utilizing those cameras
to improve yield."

http://www.MEATPOULTRY.com

Meat + Poultry - August 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Meat + Poultry - August 2009