Poultry plants increasing profits with circular model

Review resource use in poultry plant operations to raise income, maximize yields and cut waste with a circular economic model.

Innovation and changing consumer perceptions of poultry meat can help to ensure ongoing sales. | michaeljung, BigStockPhoto.com
Innovation and changing consumer perceptions of poultry meat can help to ensure ongoing sales. | michaeljung, BigStockPhoto.com

Better use of resources in poultry processing can bring a variety of benefits, not only offering the possibility of increasing income, but also helping to make production more sustainable.

Demand for poultry meat is expected to carry on rising as the global population and incomes rise, and poultry processors may need to look more deeply at how they use physical resources if further restrictions are not to be placed on them.

Poultry processors, like most other industries, have traditionally followed a linear model – take, make, and dispose. However, adopting a circular approach with long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishing and recycling, is being increasingly adopted and its further adoption across the industry may help in the struggle to meet the forecast demand for animal protein as well as helping to boost income.

However, when considering resources, those at the disposal of any company extend to far more than physical resources alone.

Poultry Circular Economy 1

A better examination of how inputs are sourced and what constitutes waste and how it is treated can make production environmentally and economically more sustainable. | Petovarga, BigStockPhoto.com

Value of the circular economic model

A simple way of illustrating the circular economic model can be seen in the following.

If a flock is culled and buried on-farm, there is not only the effort needed to dig and fill ditches, but the ongoing risk of contamination.

However, on-farm rendering and transformation into meal for subsequent inclusion into cattle feed not only removes the ongoing risk of soil or water contamination, but offers a potential income stream.

Similarly, rather than leaving no-longer-used processing equipment within the processing facility, its sale to a smaller processor would bring the double benefit of not allowing all of the expenditure originally made in it to be lost, but also would help the poultry industry as a whole meet growing demand.

When it is necessary to invest in new equipment, it is worth considering whether that equipment can be added to cope with changing demand.

Much of the equipment used in poultry processing plants is made from stainless steel, making it durable and long-lasting. Rather than replace such equipment as throughput increases, many items of equipment have been designed in such a way that they can be extended to cope with higher volumes. Remodeling equipment in this way is not only cheaper than full replacement, but is more sustainable.

Even the most efficient of poultry processing plants produce waste. But rather than disposing of the plastics, boards and items that have traditionally been disposed valueless, is there are way that they can be recycled, so turning these commodities into a product rather than waste.

Another approach to avoiding waste would be, for example, to capture the heat generated by computer banks, using it for water heaters or in clothes dryers.

Further processing

While some poultry companies own the whole poultry meat production chain from farm to retail outlet, many others simply supply the meat as a commodity.

Poultry processors can, however, seek to take advantage of the value that is usually added to poultry and poultry products during further processing and sale. Whether producing whole birds, cut-ups or reformed products, there are a variety of formats that processors could produce and there may well be new presentations yet to be developed.

Similarly, innovative packing solutions may be another way in which processors can help attract some of the value that has traditionally emerged closer to the customer.

However, it is not only in supplying product where processors can seek maximum advantage. Closer and more transparent relationships with consumers can only be good for the long-term success of the industry.

It will be increasingly important for the poultry industry to communicate with consumers in areas such as traceability, the ingredients used in feed, and to overturn any myths about chicken meat that cause consumers concern and that may have held chicken sales back.

Beyond overturning these myths, it would do the industry no harm to increase consumers’ value perceptions of chicken. This is not the same as raising prices, but rather encouraging consumers to see the meat as increasingly special.

Business culture

Given the increasing speed at which businesses are changing around the world, any business model must be innovative and creative, and traditional business plans, while detailed and thorough, can prove to be inflexible and static.

Adopting a “model” rather than a plan may be the solution to today’s changed circumstances.

An example from outside the industry could be cement producers, which traditionally sold their product in bags or in bulk to their customers for construction of buildings, bridges and motorways. Some cement producers have, however, now established construction companies, meaning that they still sell cement, but transformed into higher-value buildings. A similar approach for poultry processors would be to move away from selling to wholesalers and move closer to consumers.

Fostering intelligent work teams, where employees are encouraged to be creative and innovative, can help to improve the bottom line. Listening to and acting on ideas that come from the facility floor where staff have hands-on experience can raise yields or save on costs. It will be staff at the processing plant that ensure its success, and they need to be motivated as much as possible.

Workers need to be convinced that what they do is worthwhile and to be recognized for their efforts, and bonuses, prizes and other forms of recognition can help to ensure that employees work together and are motivated to ensure that targets and objectives are met.

Listening to staff feedback can not only highlight where operations might be improved, but can encourage staff to actively seek out where changes can be made. By fostering a team spirit, and encouraging all those involved from farm to slaughter to distributors, there may be various opportunities to make improvements that improve the bottom line.

 

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