Claxton Poultry optimizes efficiency with Marel Software

Located in Georgia, US, Claxton Poultry, is a third generation, locally owned business. They process poultry from hatchery to market. Claxton’s quality, all-natural products have secured them many long-term customers, including a 50-year partnership with Chick-fil-A. When Claxton realized some of their partnerships were at risk through loss of throughput and trim waste, they turned to Marel to help revolutionize their processing systems.

The solution

In 2018 Claxton Poultry and Marel began implementing a software solution to address these challenges in their fillet and butterfly processing line.
They began with the installation of a new grading system equipped with Marel AXIN Software (previously Innova). The Custom Grader controls the distribution of fillets to cutting lines, removing the bottlenecks and overloading of product as it moves through production to the DSI waterjet cutter. The software component of the system provides a real-time overview that maximizes production control. The software can be pre-programmed to multiple recipes; it defines the parameters of graded products to weight ranges and flow rate limits. Products that do not meet these parameters – outliers – are rerouted for later processing runs. The software also automates which fillets are assigned to specific cut patterns, to optimize value and order management.

When a program is activated, AXIN Grading software informs the Custom Grader of the required fillet parameters. Operators can monitor the process of the production run in real-time, giving feedback on various KPIs including total number of pieces, weights and more. This allows operators to make immediate, accurate adjustments that keep production within yield targets and enhance efficiency. Beyond production control, AXIN Software collects and collates production data to provide Claxton with actionable insights that enable data-driven decision making. This ensures Claxton can easily see details on rejection rates, weight distributions and more in real time. Standard or customized reports can be created to meet specific needs and facilitate fast and focused monitoring of production.

Marel Software allows Claxton to utilize data for historic analysis. They began tracking product sizes coming into the factory, “We started noticing things. Like on certain days of the week, product might be a little bigger or smaller,” said Hughes. “We were actually forcing some cuts. Which slowed down the process and increased trim and waste.”

Using historical analysis of fillet sizes, Claxton was able to make strategic decisions that matched markets to product. It started speeding things up, “We were able to reduce our trim, but also the number of people we needed on the line. We shifted from four operators to three and were still able to hit targets and reduce trim."

The result

Working closely with Marel, Claxton has fine-tuned their grading and trimming lines. The adjustments have had a dramatic result, so far Claxton has increased their throughput by 21% and reduced trim waste by 67%. And they keep on improving.

The accurate data and operational insight provided by the software also helped the production team work more effectively with the sales team, “Unfortunately, our production issues before AXIN meant we lost some of our customers and some of the markets,” said Hughes. The new upgrades have shifted this trend.

“We have been able to use the data, tie it in with our salespeople day in and day out, working through it, asking, where do we need to go.” Each week the processing and sales teams review reports, “it helps us, our process looks better and better each day. Now we are at the point where our operators can see if something is out of line with the set parameters, they alert the manager, and they can instantly separate the product and come back to it in another batch where it fits.” By matching product sizes to meet markets, Claxton is boosting profitability and rebuilding the confidence of their customers.

The future

One of Marel Software portfolio’s key abilities is enabling continuous growth and improvement to processors, and Mike Hughes is excited to see what else it can bring to make Claxton even more competitive. The Software KnowHow in Florida provided a great opportunity for Hughes to explore the breadth and depth of possibilities. After his own presentation he was keen to get straight into some others, “There are some presentations I cannot wait to hear, to see how we can go to the next step and hopefully get our throughputs and yields even better and keep uptime even higher.” Marel is equally excited to help Claxton get there.

About Claxton Poultry

Founded in Georgia, US, in 1949, Claxton Poultry has set the standard for premium, all-natural, no antibiotic ever chicken. The company has grown from a one-truck operation into one of the largest family-owned, egg-to-market poultry companies in the US. Supplying over 200 products to national and global markets. They employ around 2,000 workers across their processing plant, deboning facility, hatcheries and feed mill.