Murray’s Chicken, situated in South Fallsburg, New York, is a modest production facility that processes approximately 50,000 birds daily. Unlike most larger US retailers, they collaborate with local farmers to raise smaller birds, which allows them to offer a premium chicken product that meets their customers’ demands. “We have a better product with a smaller bird size. It istempting to go bigger, but our customers want a natural size chicken breast. They do not want something cut down from bigger bird sizes to fit their specifications. We have found it is better to have a naturally sized product”, says Plant Manager, Phil Wise.
Over the past five years, Phil Wise has played an integral role at Murray’s Chicken, overseeing all production stages from live hanging to shipping. BAADER Corporate Sales Manager, Bryan English, has formed a solid relationship with Phil Wise and the founder, Murray Bresky thanks to English’s extensive industry experience and customer engagement.
Before 2020, Murray’s Chicken was manually processing livers. However, labour shortages prevented them from processing larger quantities and additional by-products. Recognizing this issue, Phil Wise explains, “We identified that we were losing these products and we wouldn’t be able to find staffing to capture them.” Bryan English identified a need for automation and suggested installing the new BAADER Automatic Giblet Harvesting System.
During the development of the project, the need for a complete evisceration line became apparent as the current system was experiencing issues and many machines needed extensive maintenance. Rather than rebuilding, the company decided topurchase a new evisceration line with BAADER to streamline the process. They started with a Vent Cutter, an Opener, and the Eviscerator 218. “We started with these machines to feed directly into the Automatic Giblet Harvesting system. We needed the pack clamp and transfer from the Eviscerator 218 for an effective process and the other two machines were ideal for an optimal success rate of the Eviscerator”, says English.
Phil Wise explains “Before the BAADER install, we tried hard to get liver sales since we had the people. With the pandemic, we lost our staff and the sales that we worked so hard to attain. It is important to do what you say you are going to do and the consistency the machines provide is paramount. We now have orders on hearts, gizzards, and livers and we know these productlines will be uninterrupted with the machines that we put in. In the end it made sense to go with BAADER front and back. We want continuity throughout the whole process. It is better to partner with someone who is willing to work together and form the best process.”
The installation of the Eviscerator 218 control system was well received by all executive staff at Murray’s Chicken. Prior to this system, there was no reporting. Now they can see what is going on and make adjustments whenever necessary to ensure performance is within specifications. Dean Koplik, COO of Murray’s Chicken, uses the reporting to see plant performance throughout the day while Phil Wise especially appreciates the performance and percentage of pack transfers. If there is a drop in percentage his team can make adjustments for optimal yield with minimal downtime.
“Service, spare parts, and training from BAADER product specialists made the difference”, tells Wise. Regularly scheduled maintenance is key to an optimal process. Wise also enjoys the expert machine knowledge with BAADER technicians and even knows them by name. “We want to be on the cutting edge of poultry processing and we feel that partnering closely with BAADER will enable us to continue to have the best technology available”, continues Wise.
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Murray‘s Chicken Streamlines the Evisceration Process and Adds Automatic Giblet Harvesting
