Deboning upgraded too
Blaine continues, “The demand for thighs and thigh meat from both retailers and foodservice has gone through the roof.” To satisfy this increased demand, Banham installed a Thigh Fillet System for deboning up to 14,400 thighs per hour [240 ppm] to hand butchery quality. This is done in the ‘heavy’ ACM-NT line.
Banham has not neglected deboned breast meat in its upgrade and combines a SmartLine Grader with an AMF-i breast cap filleting system. Blaine explains, “We are looking for top quality, top yield breast fillet products. Pre-grading breast caps on SmartLine and giving our AMF-i system the intelligence to adapt to each individual breast cap helps us do this.” New SensorX X-ray detection systems round off the operation, by guaranteeing absolute boneless fillets.
Get the details right
Banham’s further extension plans include Marel weight/price labelers, digitalized warehouse management with Innova, Q-Wing and leg weighing in the cut-up line. A complete Marel line for coated and breaded products is also envisioned for the near future. “Ultimately, we plan to return to Bunns Bank, building a state-of-the-art greenfield processing plant.”
Blaine van Rensburg concludes, “Our business is a tough one with very tight margins. That is why we have to get the details right and have the right supplier. I have cooperated with Marel for ten years in my native South Africa. I am confident that Marel will help us realize our exciting plans, building on Attleborough’s long tradition as the source of top quality poultry products.”