CSB-System introduces ‘optimal product flow’ to meat plant

CSB-System Automation has launched a new software package, which increases "efficiency to ensure optimal process flow" from reception to packaging.

The new Turnkey system software controls reception of goods, cutting, production planning and control, packaging and labelling of the meat and sausages for self-service, stock placement and removal, picking, loading of trolleys and dispatch.

The system has been installed at the meat processing factory of Edeka Südwest Fleisch in Rheinstetten, Germany, enabling production volumes of up to 650 tons of meat and sausages per day to be achieved for 1,250 Edeka stores.

The factory receives pork and beef quarters. Following in-process control and entry in the CSB system, the beef quarters are forwarded to track storage. The pork halves are graded using a CSB-Image-Meater, a special hardware and software solution that enables fully automatic, no-contact and hygienic assessment, said CSB.

Once in the storage and packing area, which is automatically controlled via inventory management, the software handles all the processes for stock entry and removal, as well as the shelf loading devices and the conveyors. The picked goods are then forwarded via conveyor to nine trolley loading stations and then to dispatch. The CSB system provides all the data required to correctly load the trolleys.

The products are then sent for cutting at Edeka, where there are six pork cutting lines and two beef cutting lines. The demand for pork halves and beef quarters is determined by the software planning system, which calculates the expected sales of items for the respective day.

Finally, "at two CSB control stations, all strings of this highly automated meat factory are joined: one master control station ensures optimal processing in the logistics system; another one monitors and controls production and picking".

"As a result, the system provides up-to-date information about the overall situation, the performance, and the technical status of the production and logistics areas," CSB reported.