We cut beef debone cycle time by 22 seconds per head by moving spec checks to post-rehang and picked up a 0.4% trim-yield lift with no spike in rework. With the Choice–Select spread sitting under $10/cwt and retail features thinning, are you easing chain speed to protect yield or pushing knives and staffing to hold volume?
With the spread ‘under $10/cwt’, we shave 3–4 bpm on fatter lots and slide our A‑team to ribs/loins; the yield saved beats the volume hit right now. After moving spec checks ‘post-rehang’ we added a roving QC who can freeze a station for 2–3 minutes if trim drifts — , people hate it, but rework stayed flat. Did you see any cut downgrade creep when you picked up those 22 seconds/head?
But i’d hold bpm and spend the ‘22 seconds per head’ as buffer at chuck/round final trim — add a 6–8 sec dwell and bump knife swaps to every 40 min with 185°F scabbards; cleaner seams, less smear, and we kept the 0.4% without bleeding volume. On fatter lots we also run the chill tunnel about 2°F colder for 30 min to firm fat, which helped more than extra staffing, . @doneill34, have you tried sampling ‘post-rehang’ checks every 50 head instead of continuous?
I totally get where you’re coming from; integrating new tech can be a hassle. We recently adopted a similar QC tool, and while it did streamline our sample tracking, the learning curve for the team was a bit steep. Have you encountered any training challenges with the new software? It might be useful to share best practices.