Deboning and trimming at Soviba

When Soviba was looking for a deboning and trimming system - able to handle its entire production and to provide easy access to traceability, IT integration and implementation - the company chose to invest in the Scanvaegt ScanTracer system.

Soviba is one of the largest meat processing companies in France. Approximately 2000 cattle are slaughtered, processed and packed every week at the group's plant at Villers Bocage, in Normandy. This is the largest of the Soviba processing plants, with 24,000 m2 of floor space. The company has chosen to start replacing one of its production lines at Villers Bocage with the ScanTracer system.

The ScanTracer system being installed at Soviba consists of a production line with a cut-down station including deboning and trimming of the meat, which allows separation of spine bone parts from the rest of the carcass. All parts are weighed and registered to satisfy the traceability and yield requirements.

The cut-down parts are sent to selected operators with the right skills for de-boning, working at an 8-station de-boning table. Spines and other bones are kept separate and moved away. The de-boned prime cuts are automatically moved on from the de-boning table and pass an automatic weighing machine that determines the exact weight, thus facilitating the necessary yield calculations. These cuts then continue to a 10-station trimming table where the operators trim the prime cuts to specification and separate the trimmings into trim and by-product.

The operator stations feature an ergonomically correct design where everything is within easy reach. The cutting table, the chair and the working platform are all individually adjustable, and products are automatically moved to the workstation and then away again. This minimises heavy lifting, which was previously done by the deboners who had to carry slabs of meat weighing 30-40 kg.

The ScanTracer system is able to monitor the entire process from start to finish, right down to the individual operator and process, with online, real-time monitoring of yield and throughput, measured for each individual operator.