Faccenda Telford expands
Until recently, cutting and deboning operations handling about 1 million broilers per week were split between factories in Telford and Dudley, 40km apart in the English West Midlands. Faccenda Foods decided to expand Telford, at the same time bringing all cutting and deboning processes under one roof. Not only did this give Faccenda a brand new portioning plant; it also enabled the company to develop new business for its Dudley site.
A long partnership
Faccenda Foods is Marel Poultry’s longest standing UK customer. The two companies have been working together for more than 40 years and Marel Poultry had supplied the original equipment at Telford and Dudley.
“As well as providing class-leading equipment, Marel Poultry has consistently worked with us to provide technology and methods of working which deliver true value. The company understands us and comes up with solutions which are right for our business. Their proposal for the new factory proved this yet again,” says Philip Davidson.
Ready for the future
The new 10,000m² (2,5 acres) factory currently handles 1.2 million broilers a week, with scope for up to 2 million broilers per week. It is equipped with two 6,500 bph (108 bpm) ACM-NT cut-up systems, both with the latest modules including SmartWeigher.
Two new 3,600 bph (60 bpm) AMF systems join four systems transferred from Dudley. All six feature semi-automatic loading, PLC control and automatic breast tendon and cartilage harvesting. Two existing shorter systems, used mainly for foodservice specials, complete the breast filleting line-up. Two extended four-cell RoboBatcher Flex systems batch and place fillets onto retail trays.