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Moorland Poultry Limited: Prepared Foods, U.K
One of the UK's leading turkey processors has seen production take off by around 40% over the past four years and is currently riding high on increased consumer demand for low-fat turkey products. But it's not all been plain sailing-faced with this spiraling demand, Moorland Poultry Ltd was forced to take tough decisions about its production processes, in particular its gas supply system-vital to maintaining the freshness of its products. |
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The company 's two North Yorkshire factories, in Dalton and nearby Newby Wiske, supply frozen and fresh wholebird turkeys as well as minced, diced and sliced poultry products to many of the UK's major food retail outlets.
To prolong the shelf life of its products, Moorland uses carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen, the three main components of the atmosphere, to adjust the environment in the packaging through a process called MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packaging).
In December each year the company's workforce at its wholebird site at Dalton doubles to help cope with seasonal demand when levels of production increase by up to 40%. It is not surprising that it was during one such Christmas period that the company realised that it needed to confront the growing problem of making its gas supply system meet the increasing demands on production.
The warning bells first rang in the Christmas of 1996. Demand for wholebirds that year was the greatest the company had ever experienced, up by over 50% on 1995, stretching the factories' resources to their limits.
Steve MacKay had recently joined Moorlands as engineering manager for the Dalton site. "At that time we were using gas cylinders to supply the factory. We were running packaging systems in four separate places around the production line, including one machine alongside two cylinders-one of which was active while the other stood on standby. We also had an older machine supplied by a ten cylinder manifold with a further ten in reserve."
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"But as production increased we found that the logistics of changing cylinders became more and more of a burden, with a downtime of five to ten minutes each time cylinders needed changing. At peak production we were spending up to two hours a day swapping the gas supply! On top of this there were safety concerns over staff moving an increasing number of cylinders around-weighing 65 kilos each-and questions over the amount of wastage from residual gas at the bottom of the used bottles."
Steve turned to Air Products food specialist Paul Robson, based in nearby Sunderland, for an answer. Having assessed the situation and projected demands for gas, Paul's advice was to upgrade the system to larger capacity minitanks supplying carbon dioxide. |
The new system was a resounding success. The upgrade immediately saved the company around 25% from its total gas supply expenditure.It also halved the time factory staff spent changing the gas supply every day, making production smoother and reducing potentially dangerous cylinder movements as well as connections and disconnections.
However, it had always been the long term goal of both Air Products and Moorland to eliminate cylinder handling altogether, in line with manual handling regulations.
Dalton
Newby Wiske
So when in November 1998, the continued success of the business meant that production at the Dalton site had reached a point where it was viable to convert to bulk liquid carbon dioxide, the opportunity was seized.
With minitanks being changed up to three times a day, Paul Robson advised Moorlands to adopt a completely automated system and drew up the necessary plans for a six tonne tank and supply system.
From this point on, liquid carbon dioxide would be delivered by Air Products tankers, reducing deliveries from as many as three a week to fewer than one a month-a factor of particular concern given the outstanding natural beauty of the local environment.
The entire system would be controlled by telemetry-a remote access system feeding information about liquid levels and pressure in the tanks direct to Air Products' bulk ordering system. This would automatically monitor demand and issue the instruction to send a tanker delivery to the site when needed.
The success of the Dalton installation and the continued growth of the processed turkey business around this time led Moorland to reconsider the overall gas supply at its second site at Newby Wiske.
In developing plans for the site, Paul's knowledge of the food industry and Moorland's projections for growth helped him foresee an increasing demand among Moorland's customers for poultry products flushed using mixtures comprising three gases. So he suggested a piping system linked to a mixing panel, allowing oxygen to be supplied by minitanks and combined with carbon dioxide and nitrogen from cylinders.
This paved the way for the installation of two new six tonne tanks for liquid carbon dioxide and oxygen twelve months later. These would run alongside a nitrogen generator, capable of producing three cubic metres of nitrogen every hour. This system, supplying three different gases by two modes of supply, would make the site unique to the UK.
"The gas supply in both sites is much smoother now," comments Steve Mackay. "It's simply a case of the factory supervisor keeping an eye on the telemetry system displayed on the bulk tanks as part of a regular morning inspection."
"Our maximum daily throughput at Dalton now stands at around 3,600 wholebirds an hour, up from 2,800 four years ago and bird size is constantly increasing. Demand also continues to increase at Newby Wiske so it's absolutely essential that gas supply is kept constant throughout the day."
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"It's made a huge difference to the way we work. Having eliminated downtime necessary for changing cylinders and minitanks we now have completely uninterrupted production. The factories are now much safer for our staff and the risk of contamination and wastage that used to occur during changeovers has been almost completely eradicated. On top of which, with fewer deliveries to our sites we are doing our bit for the local environment. At Newby Wiske Air Products even painted the bulk tanks Willow Green to conform with local UK planning regulations."
The new systems were successfully installed within three days at Newby Wiske and two days at Dalton. "There was absolutely no loss of production in the changeover from minitanks to bulk gas supply," said Steve. "It was a completely seamless transition." |
As consumers become increasingly concerned with buying low-fat meat and poultry products, Moorland sees the demand for its turkey products set to increase into the future. Having market tested marinated turkey products produced at Newby Wiske, one major high street supermarket has increased its order and is currently looking at further alternative products.
"Over the past four years production has increased by around 40%," added Steve. "And in the three weeks leading up to Christmas last year, we were processing a staggering 23,500 wholebird turkeys a day at Dalton. What's more, we expect the current trend to continue well into the future."
"Whatever happens though gas supply is no longer a concern for me. I know that we have a continuous supply of gas flowing into both factories. If demand increases, the system will alert Air Products who will automatically send an extra bulk delivery. And the nitrogen generator is modular, so it would be an easy exercise to 'bolt' on an additional unit."
"The system in both sites is already paying dividends, "concludes Air Products' Paul Robson. In particular with gas supply savings set at 30% at the most recent Newby Wiske installation, Moorland Poultry can expect to recuperate the cost of the investment within twelve months-an outstanding achievement even by Air Products' high standards."
The truth about turkeys
In the three weeks leading up to Christmas last year Moorland Poultry bagged in the region of 1.2 million turkeys (3,600 every hour) at its Dalton factory in North Yorkshire. These frozen, fresh, deboned, ready-basted or stuffed turkeys were then supplied direct to many of the UK's major high street supermarkets and food retailers in time for the seasonal rush. Every year frozen turkeys are even exported as far afield as South Africa. But before fresh turkeys reach the shelves, they are 'flushed' with carbon dioxide-a process which prolongs freshness by up to two weeks.
The wholebird operation continues to flourish throughout the rest of the year, peaking again around Easter and other bank holidays. Meanwhile at Moorland's Newby Wiske site, the company is taking advantage of increasing consumer demand for low-fat turkey products. The factory produces a range of packaged products, including breast steaks and fillets as well as diced, sliced, stirfry and, most recently, marinated products. These are packed in plastic containers in a controlled environment using Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP-a process that combines carbon dioxide, oxygen and nitrogen to keep products fresh for longer.
Established in 1964, Moorland now employs up to 1,000 people at a time at its two North Yorkshire factories and in farms and hatcheries across the north of England. Over the past four years the company has seen factory throughput increase by around 40%, a growth that ranks it among the UK's leading suppliers of turkey products.
© Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., 2000
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