Customers worldwide value ACM-NT cut-up

Mariana dos Santos, General Manager of Crizaves in Portugal, says, “As the market is constantly changing, we have to adapt to meet its demands and our clients’ needs. With our lightweight broilers and specific consumer habits, we have special requirements. Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all solution, JBT Marel is always innovating to meet our diverse and evolving needs. Such collaboration is crucial for achieving the best results. As young people in Portugal have ever less time for cooking at home. Supermarkets have largely done away with in-store butchery. Meat on the shelves is now pre-packaged. We are adapting to this trend with the ACM-NT cutup line which offers a wide variety of cuts to meet customer demands.”

A separate ‘ACM-NT churrasco room’

Also in Portugal, Avicasal installed an ACM-NT cutup line for processing both typical Frango Churrasco products and regular cut-up chicken parts simultaneously. First in the line, the wing cutting module cuts non-churrasco products based on the weight measured by the SmartWeigher and calculated by PDS. Other products bypass the module, as a Frango Churrasco is with wings. Once selected for the churrasco line in the processing plant, products are conveyed on their ACM-NT carriers into a separate ‘churrasco room’. Here the custom ’churrasco module’ cuts open the breast from the front side, to flatten it for grilling. Products are then inspected thoroughly as the internal cavity should be top quality.

Frango Churrasco is a popular, high quality product that should have a clean and neat presentation. Plant Manager Gabriel Gil says, “Frango Churrasco is a key product for Avicasal. The way our processing line is designed now is completely custom-made. So far, JBT Marel and Avicasal are front runners in developing this modern churrasco processing solution for the market. We’ve been studying this for quite a while and every time, we have reached a higher level.”

ACM-NT does all the Australian cuts

Not so long ago, the Australian market was largely a whole product one. This has now changed. Cuts and deboned items now predominate. Over recent years, Baiada Hanwood has anticipated this trend and invested heavily in automatic cut-up systems. It now has four ACM-NT systems in operation. It also has a dedicated ACM-NT system for producing nine-piece cuts for a QSR chain. Paul Singh, COO at Baiada Poultry, explains, "When our customers decide to move to fixed weight packs, we are ready. We know the JBT Marel technology we have installed will give us such precise pack weights." Fixed-weight packs start with a proper cut-up system, such as the ACM-NT.

Products not released for sale whole are transferred automatically to ACM-NT automatic cut-up equipment. They are usually cut into wingette, drummette, whole wing, front half (barrels), breast, split leg, thigh and drumstick portions. Local specialties for the grill such as 'Runover Rooster' (whole product split down the backbone and flattened out), 'Maryland Supreme' (anatomic leg)”, 'Chop' (thigh with backbone), 'Cutlet' (anatomic thigh) and 'Lovely Leg' (skinned drumsticks with removed sock bone) portions are also catered for.

Romania and Bolivia

Agricola Bacău in Romania expanded the cut-up line for good reasons. Oana Jigau, plant manager, says, “In the past, we were limited to one cut-up line that couldn’t handle more products, so we had to produce at least 20% whole birds. One of the reasons for upgrading to 13,500 bph was to produce more cut-up. We doubled our setup to two ACM-NT cut-up lines and now we produce only 6% whole birds, while 94% is cut up.”

Avícola El Carmen in Bolivia decided to install a complete ACM-NT in-line cut-up system. With the cutting process now automated, the company can meet increased market demand for cut parts. If cutting was still being done manually, this would have been impossible. Avícola El Carmen Owner Oscar Céspedes says, “Initially, our cut products accounted for approximately 10% of total production. Now that we have automated the process with ACM-NT, we have reached around 30%.” “Being able to present product trussed and ready for the rotisserie have lifted sales.”

Artisanal cuts in China

In China, Han Baihuai, General Manager of Binzhou Gaosheng and Executive Director of the Xinsheng Group, says, “We don’t sell whole chicken, as the market simply doesn’t ask for them. That’s why we send all chilled products to the cut-up lines. We’re talking about a large number of products, so we can’t do this without our reliable automatic equipment from JBT Marel.”

To enable 100% cut-up at 27,000 bph, the Binzhou Gaosheng plant has two grading lines, four ACM-NT cut-up systems, and seven AMF filleting lines. In each grading line, an autocalibrating SmartWeigher is used for monitoring processed weights and deciding which products are distributed to the 'lightweight' lines and which to the 'heavyweight' ACM-NT lines. Each of the four ACM-NT lines cuts a wide variety of products, including wing segments, anatomic legs, necks, leaf fat, spines and tails. 

“The end products produced by JBT Marel’s ACM-NT and AMF-i equipment have all the meat characteristics demanded by our culinary traditions. There is virtually no difference between our industrially cut poultry meat and that produced by artisans”, says Han Baihuai, General Manager of Binzhou Gaosheng and Executive Director of the Xinsheng Group. “Besides that, hygiene, food safety and traceability have all hit new heights, particularly when compared to the live bird markets.”