Meat+Poultry - September 2018 - 8

C O M M E N TA R Y

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Besides the welcomed change of
temperature and the promise of
another football season, one of my
favorite autumnal events is the annual
Greater Kansas City Parade of Homes.
For two weeks, some of the latest and
greatest new homes in and around the
city are showcased and open each day
for anyone to walk through and tour.
Even though I'm not in the market to
buy, it's always enticing and interesting
to see what is trending as far as floor
plans, amenities, landscaping, interior
design and especially technology. Most
new homes dazzle visitors with some
level of "smart-home" components that
link homes to owners via their smart
phones or computers. I can't help but
think that at some level, operators
of other processing plants who get a
glimpse of a new plant start-up, share
that same sense of veiled envy I've
felt when taking off my shoes before
marching through the eye-popping
houses featured on the parade of
homes. For those prone to jealousy,
I would understand if you avoid this
month's cover story (see "Whole-hog
partnership," Page 16), which might
trigger a touch of new-plant fever or at
least a mild case of automation envy.
Looking back at the last several
large-scale processing plants I've

toured this year, it is clear that, for
an industry sometimes scrutinized
for its resistance to change, there
are plenty of not-so-subtle signs
that the meat-processing industry
is embracing change. Operationally,
I've seen many examples of forwardthinking companies investing in
and implementing technology and
resources that were once viewed
as bells and whistles. Automation
and robotics in plants are no longer
cause for explanation for why jobs
that could be filled by work-hungry
humans are being filled by machines.
An industrywide labor crisis has
forced the hand of operators who must
meet spiking demand for processed
meat and have answered the bell with
robotic solutions. Seaboard Foods and
Triumph Foods latest joint venture, the
STF pork-processing plant is a perfect
example. For example, precision
visioning systems direct robotic
neck clippers, belly openers and
back splitters on the harvesting floor
replace seven positions traditionally
filled by people. Besides the fact that
those people come at the cost of
wages and benefits, they would be part
of a saw-wielding, bending, twisting
team of workers who risk injury and
whose consistency would vary as
they keep pace at a plant with a daily
capacity quickly approaching 10,000
head per day. Several more positions
are replaced by automated belly

trimmers and loin pullers.
The plant is designed similarly to
Seaboard's Guymon, Oklahoma, plant
and Triumph Foods' facility in St.
Joseph, Missouri, with some upgrades
that make the workers from those
plants envious. Having walked through
the Triumph plant about 10 years ago
when it was brand new and more
recently touring the next evolution in
Sioux City, was akin to seeing a model
home with every available upgrade on
the Parade of Homes compared to a
more modest, but serviceable, builder's
grade home. Upgrades at the new plant
include; LED lighting throughout the
942,000-sq.-ft. building, a snap-chill
room and an equilibrium chilling room
where more than 24,500 carcasses can
be held, two carbon dioxide stunners
and a shipping area equipped with 28
loading docks.
Not unlike new homeowners,
Chief Operating Officer Mark Porter
and General Manager, Stan Scott walk
through the plant with pride and proudly
point out what makes the plant state of
the art in so many ways. The two-year
process of building the plant wasn't
without its challenges, as Porter and
his team will attest. With this month
marking the first anniversary of the
plant's opening, I asked him how he'd
describe the experience 12 months after
moving in. "Pride is a word that comes
to mind," he said.
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

For an industry sometimes scrutinized for its
resistance to change, there are plenty of not-sosubtle signs that the meat-processing industry
is embracing change.

MEAT+ POULTRY | 09.18 | www.meatpoultry.com

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Meat+Poultry - September 2018

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