Master Good is currently in the middle of a comprehensive project to re-equip and expand its Kisvarda processing plant. Hourly capacity has already increased from 8,000 to 13,500 bph (133 to 225 bpm).
Old married couple
Mr Bárány continues, “We knew that we had to grow to remain competitive in a challenging environment, where customers are becoming ever more demanding and labor to operate our processes ever more scarce. It was obvious that only investment in the latest technology would give us the growth we were looking for. We chose Marel because, like an old married couple, we really know and trust one another. For me, Marel is the most innovative company in the industry.”
The first stage of the project saw the upgrading of the primary process, commissioned in 2017. Master Good was already a user of Marel scalding, plucking, and evisceration technology. Additional immersion scalding and plucking equipment was bought to handle the increased throughput. The company’s existing Nuova evisceration and giblet harvesting system can cope easily with the new situation.
From worst to best
Master Good’s main investment in the primary process was the purchase of GP live bird handling and CAS SmoothFlow systems, the first time this combination had been installed in Hungary. Mr Bárány explains; “With our shortage of labor and with high staff turnover in difficult jobs, it was important for us to try to make these easier and physically less demanding. Since installation of the new systems the front end of our plant has gone from being the worst place to work in to being the best. We have many other benefits too. We’ve reduced our head count. Birds arrive at the plant in better condition. Controlled atmosphere stunning allows us to operate at much higher hourly throughputs with fewer empty shackles. We have a better bleed out. We have higher fillet quality, which means less need to trim. In short, yields, quality, and overall efficiency are all up.”
Minimal bone complaints
Upgrades continue on the back end of the plant. Mr Bárány continues, “We were operating manual cone deboning lines but needed to increase fillet production. This meant we had to automate. A core partner recommended Marel’s Front Half Filleting system FHF-XB, as in their experience this system gave the lowest residual bone complaints. Being able to keep these to an absolute minimum is almost more important to us than the extra back meat that the FHF-XB system, known to have the highest meat yield in the market place, will give us.”
So far so good
Master Good is happy with progress so far. In Mr Bárány’s words; “The Marel colleagues we work with are like family to us. Life always brings problems. We know, however, that when they happen, we can rely on Marel to help solve them quickly. We have total confidence in the company’s expertise and its commitment to us. Being totally vertically integrated, we have the right structure. We’ll now have to concentrate on being efficient as we can. This will mean even more automation. For this, we know that we definitely have the right partner in Marel.”
About Master Good
Master Good is a vertically integrated Hungarian broiler operation based at Kisvarda in the North East of Hungary. It’s wholly owned by the Bárány family, Hungary’s oldest poultry breeding dynasty. The current company was founded in 1994, starting with just five employees. In just over twenty years it has developed into the largest broiler processing business in Hungary, employing more than 2,000 people. It has its own hatcheries, breeding and growing farms, a feed mill, a primary processing plant in Kisvarda and a further processing operation in Petnehaza. It’s responsible for almost 40% of chicken meat produced in Hungary.
Master Good produces a wide range of fresh broiler products, whole, cut, and deboned. Its free range chicken are used by Hungary’s top chefs. Master Good sells both domestically in Hungary and to other European, African, and Asian markets and to Canada. It’s one of the major suppliers to McDonald’s Europe and is one of the very few suppliers of chicken meat products to Tesco UK based outside of the UK.