In partnership with one of the largest consumer food processors in the world, Tri-Mach was honoured to design, build and install their new custom Fresh Poultry Pack-Off System. The ability to withstand a high volume of fresh drum, thigh, and wing meat packaging, while adhering to food-safe design principles was the customer’s main concern.
Tri-Mach’s commitment to sanitary design & top-quality manufacturing made us the perfect fit for the project. The project was multi-faceted: receive up to 500,000 individual fresh poultry cuts per day from the existing automated poultry cut-up and portioning system, scale and pack them into cases of varying sizes, and transfer the full cases through a CVP system and onto the existing overhead conveyor to the palletizing area. The system had to be food-safe, easy to clean and inspect, and had to fit into the current pack-off system’s square footage.
The Tri-Mach solution was to build five identical hopper conveyors, one for each cut of meat, allowing the pack-off area to work at a staggering pace while receiving the products from the automated system. The hopper conveyors were built with Ever-Kleen® technology, using the most sanitary components and materials – including the ultra-hygienic Intralox® ThermoDrive smooth urethane belting. Each hopper conveyor was designed to be easily disassembled without tools to ensure all areas could be adequately cleaned and inspected. The sanitation supervisors said they had never seen anything so easily disassembled and they were excited to work with a conveyor system that made cleaning easier.
MAREL, a leading global provider of advanced equipment for the poultry processing industry, was selected to provide the scales for the system. Tri-Mach worked closely with MAREL to ensure seamless integration of the scales into the pack-off system by performing scale tests with the fresh product prior to installation.
Filled and scaled cases are then transferred to CVP automatic sealing equipment. The CVP indexes each full case to one of three operator stations for sealing. An incline conveyor was designed to integrate with the existing overhead conveyor to transfer the finished cases to the palletizing area.
This turn-key solution, designed by Tri-Mach, was a complete success from the initial proposal to the supply and installation of the equipment. We took the extra time to train and educate the staff on proper usage and cleaning to ensure a seamless transition for our customer.