Production efficiency
With the benefits of automation in mind, Yashixiang was determined to set up a fully automated production line. “Our main objective is to improve production efficiency. At present, we are processing broilers manually. It takes 600 workers to process 90,000 broilers per day,” says Zhang Xu, General Manager of Shandong Yashixiang.
“With all Marel automated systems in place, we plan to process 300,000 broilers per day, employing 1500 people. This will increase the production efficiency of a single worker by more than 30%. The implications for the whole plant are of course obvious. Labor is also becoming more expensive with wages in China going up by about 10% every year. So automating our production lines will save us a lot of labor cost.”
Standardization
Yashixiang’s second reason to go for full automation is the high level of standardization automated equipment can bring. Chinese consumers like their food to always look the same. This often has to do with traditional food preparation methods. Poultry products produced with Marel systems can meet strict standardization. The standard of food safety is also high, benefiting overall control and management of the enterprise.