A major beef processor partnered with FloVision to find financial opportunity and lift staff efficiency on striploin lines. They installed the FloVision Pro — and cut lean-side overtrimming to recover an average $2.02 per head.
The striploin primal, one of the most valuable cuts of beef, features a fat side facing the hide and a lean side facing the ribs. In the boning hall, staff separates primals from the carcass; they aim to maximize the fat on both sides of the primal to increase weight and avoid wasting yield left on the hide and ribs. Station butchers remove bones and trim to company and customer quality specifications.
This beef processor produces 300 head per shift at a single plant, and cuts are processed in a fast-paced, multi-step production line. Station butchers were trained to trim a small amount of additional fat from the lean side of the striploin primals, but were consistently overtrimming this area. Supervisors had little time or visibility to monitor each butcher to identify this error and retrain them on this technique. As a result, this plant lost $2.02 per head on lean side striploin primal overtrimming.
The beef processor started using the FloVision Pro at several striploin primal stations. The FloVision Pro features sensors that measure primal features, real-time operator and supervisor alerting, and a manager dashboard with data and trend analytics.
FloVision Pro automatically scanned and measured each primal before and after station butchering. The system compared the fat area and weight of the striploin primal in these two scans and identified that station butchers were regularly overtrimming the lean side and could optimize this feature by leaving more fat.
The FloVision Analytics manager dashboard notified floor and station managers of this trend and created on-floor alerts for butchers and supervisors. When butchers overtrimmed, they received alerts on the FloVision Pro operator screen, while supervisors were signaled with a light whenever the striploin lean side was overtrimmed beyond a specific threshold.
The FloVision Pro helped this beef processor to increase their bottom line and increase production speed. The striploin lean side overtrimming resulted in a $2.02 yield loss per head. Reducing the amount of trimming needed per primal also sped up production by 4 seconds each, resulting in a 6.7% in striploin production speed overall.
The gain wasn't only yield. Faster, more consistent trimming meant more primals per shift — recovery and throughput moving together.
Book 30 minutes and we'll map one line and walk you through exactly what we'd find on your floor. Most processors see payback in about three months — bring your current yield numbers and we'll show you where the giveaway is.