Ishida bags Almarai poultry project, makes sales at GFM
The new line at Almrai’s Alyoum poultry division developed over three years, from a 21,000 bird-per-hour (bph) to the final 37,000 bph capacity. The factory in Ha’il can process both whole birds and chicken parts, using the systems provided by Meyn Ishida, a joint venture between the two firms.
Giving nothing away
“Meyn provided fast and efficient processing systems and machinery, as well as the expertise needed to train staff and production managers. Ishida provided automation of the weighing and packing processes to the same advanced level,” said Larus Asgeirsson, general manager of Almarai’s poultry division.
“The main benefit here, apart from the speed needed to keep up with the Meyn cut-up lines, was the reduction of giveaway to low levels. We see the new Ha’il plant as equipping us to meet demand far into the future and also of enabling us to serve the market’s movement towards poultry pieces sold in fixed weight packs,” he added.
The Meyn Ishida line operates from slaughter to final packing, which, according to Ishida, means it can offer high levels of integration. The system includes processes for evisceration, chilling, jointing, deboning, batching, grading, weighing, mixing, packing, labelling and crating – as well as X-ray checks for bone and metal fragments.
At-show sales
Along with revealing the details of its Alyoum installation for the first time, Ishida’s presence at last month’s Gulfood Manufacturing was also marked by an at-show sale of one of the firm’s demonstration machines on the exhibition floor in Dubai.
“A snacks company from Saudi Arabia came here – they wanted a system, and knew Ishida as a name, knew our experience, but wanted to see the system. We were able to give them a good price as the machine is a little bit older – the bag maker is quite new, the weigher is about two years old,” said Torsten Giese, marketing manager for PR and events at Ishida Europe.
“Plus, it’s available now – instead of having 12 or 14 weeks lead-time. Because of that, they decided it was the right solution for them, and they bought it,” he added.
Giese said sales of this type are uncommon, and only happen at Gulfood Manufacturing: “The attitude of buying is different in Europe – you make longer decisions, look at all the options. People in the Middle East like to negotiate, they often know they have the money, there’s not an issue of internal approval – once they’re convinced this is the right fit, they want the machines.”
He said Ishida was seeing a lot of interest from regional buyers, across a range of industries from frozen food to snacks and confectionery. Dates were also becoming important for Ishida in the Middle East, he noted.
