What an IMPAQT on poultry processing

The primary processing line for Hungarian poultry processor Master Good runs at a speed of 15,000 bph (250 bpm), making it impossible for the human eye to measure efficiency. The company has now installed Marel’s IMPAQT software to help improve the efficiency of its equipment.

Master Good’s Production Controller, Nóra Moldvai-Villányi, said that prior to the software implementation, the company didn’t have a clear view of the performance of its equipment. “The judgments of our technical and production people were sometimes contradictive and subjective,” she said.

“IMPAQT gives us a realistic, real-time overview of the performance of the primary line. But it is more important that it can also help us focus on a certain issue, gather all the necessary data and find the root cause in real time. Having several product detection points in the line, we can instantly see where most product losses occur. We can decide how to prevent this loss. And we can verify the results of our preventive measures.

“However, IMPAQT is not a tool to solve sudden incidents. We use it as a monitoring tool for trends, which alerts us if performance drops in a particular area. This means we can react faster and more efficiently. At the moment, our technical department benefits most from IMPAQT. The Nuova, LineLink DE and EC dashboards are a continuous help for them. They constantly check the screens, spot the issues and react quickly if the performance of any unit drops.”

Moldvai-Villányi suggested that the software has already resulted in a better performance for the company. “Gizzards, hearts and livers are very important for us. We do our utmost to prevent the loss of these products. As this process starts with the Nuova eviscerator, it is crucial that we can closely watch its operation by checking the performance dashboard. This screen not only shows performance — which has considerably improved overall — but also tells straight away which unit is not performing well and needs to be repaired or replaced as soon as possible.

“Especially when we look at maintenance, IMPAQT makes our life easier. Besides the dashboards, the Bad Shackle report is also a ‘must see’ report. Every shackle transfers many birds every day. One defective shackle will cause product loss each time the conveyor goes around. It’s therefore important to recognise broken or damaged shackles. In the so-called Bad Shackle report, our maintenance department can easily identify bad shackles in the line and replace them as soon as possible.”