Meatpacking Industry Leverages Robotics

To increase efficiencies while addressing the meat industry’s labor shortage, meatpackers are turning to robots to facilitate processing, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Smithfield, the largest U.S. pork processor, began tapping automated rib pullers several years ago. The company said the robot helps minimize wasted meat while removing the need for human workers to do one of the most physically demanding tasks at the facility.

Chief business officer Keller Watts of Smithfield said that the technology helps reassign its employees to other departments. The report found that processors don’t believe automation in the industry will replace workers or lead to layoffs. Instead, it can help move workers to more skilled roles.

Top meatpackers including Smithfield, Tyson Foods, and Cargill have struggled to staff slaughterhouses and processing plants, according to the report, adding that short-staffed plants can limit sales and a company’s expansion prospects.

As profit margins dropped across chicken, beef, and pork, the U.S. meat industry is under pressure to increase its efficiencies. The U.S. industry averages more than $200 billion in annual sales. Full Story