Meat sector to trim costs with new technology

Leading meat industry players are teaming up in a research initiative aiming to trim $43 million a year off the cost of sheep meat processing within five years reports Rural News. The project sees nine meat companies join forces with the Foundation for Research Science and Technology in an attempt to transform sheep processing using sophisticated automation technology. MIA chief executive Tim Ritchie says it's the most significant move undertaken by the industry for 20 years. Researchers plan to use state-of-the-art sensing and robotic technology to fully automate the early stages of sheep processing, including removing the pelt and internal organs. The technology will mean 18 fewer people are needed on each processing chain, per shift. It will improve pelt and meat quality, and cut costs related to accidents and injuries, he says. The meat industry employs around 23,000 people at the height of the processing season but it faces a growing labour shortage in the medium to long term. Rather than carrying out repetitive and heavy manual labour, workers will be operators of sophisticated technology.' FRST is investing $8.36 million into the $16.7m project over six years, with the rest of the funds provided by the Meat Industry Research Institute of NZ, which funds research to improve industry profitability, and the nine industry partners, who have joined together to form Ovine Automation Ltd. Ritchie will chair the OAL board. He says the involvement of most of the large and small players in sheep processing in New Zealand dispels the myth that the industry does not collaborate. The nine meat companies involved in the consortium are Silver Fern Farms, Alliance Group, ANZCO, Taylor Preston, Progressive Meats, Bernard Matthews, Crusader Meats, Auckland Meat Processors and Blue Sky Meats.