Robotic meat processing technology wins Engineering Excellence Award

Milmeq (formerly known as Realcold Milmech, part of Refrigeration Engineering Ltd) has won the Mechanical and Manufacturing category at the 2011 New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards for its Ovine Automated Evisceration and Brisket Cutting Processing Systems, developed for Ovine Automaton Ltd. The systems achieved the commercial reality of robotic technology fully integrated within meat processing lines.

Showcasing New Zealand’s engineering talent, the Mechanical and Manufacturing Award category covers activities associated with developing improved or new products, processes or services using mechanical engineering and/or mechatronics, which includes elaborately transformed manufactured goods, automated production facilities, mechanisation, control systems and robotics. Judging criteria for the awards is based on designs being commercially proven, trialled and tested.

“The award is an excellent achievement for our team of engineers who have been committed to the goal of integrating robotics into what has traditionally been a very manual process. It demonstrates the value of the process knowledge that we have within Milmeq and the strength of being able to apply this for each system solution we integrate whether it be within the primary processing, materials handling or cold chain operations,” said Matthew Wall, Milmeq CEO. 

The Ovine Automation R&D Project

The increasing shortage of manual labour available to fill the specialised processing positions and the ongoing need to lift productivity led nine meat processing companies (Alliance Group Ltd, ANZCO Foods Ltd, Blue Sky Meats Ltd, Silver Fern Farms Ltd, Taylor Preston Ltd, Ovation New Zealand Ltd, Progressive Meats Ltd, Crusader Meats New Zealand Ltd and Auckland Meat Processors Ltd) to form Ovine Automation Ltd (OAL) to find a robotics solution. The Meat Industry Association (MIA) facilitated the process and MIRINZ Inc (jointly owned by the MIA and Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd) provided initial industry funding. Other key participants in the project included Industrial Research Ltd and the Ministry of Science and Innovation.

OAL identified the R&D requirements that would allow the next generation of sheep processing practices to benefit from a collaborative approach. Initial concept development for the robotic systems was headed by Industrial Research Ltd (IRL) and this then led to OAL selecting Milmeq to assist with further R&D to make the robotic machines a commercial reality. In less than a year, Milmeq had successfully designed, manufactured and implemented the robotic equipment into a working process line in the South Island, New Zealand.

State-of-the-art sensing and robotic technology, developed by Milmeq, provide complete automation of the brisket cutting and evisceration removal processes required for sheep processing - reducing the manual labour required for these tasks, improving pelt and meat quality and reducing accidents and injuries.

Richard McColl, OAL Manager comments: “We are delivering exactly what the industry has asked for. Our industry partners recognise the immense value of R&D and the gains promised from advanced automated engineering. Significantly, they’ve also chosen to collaborate as members of a consortium to get maximum benefit from this and to collectively boost one of New Zealand’s largest export earners.”

Milmeq won the 2011 New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards, Mechanical and Manufacturing category for their Ovine Automated Evisceration and Brisket Cutting Processing Systems, developed for Ovine Automaton Ltd.