Robot's knives cut drudgery

By LIAM DANN

Fans of the movie The Matrix might find the latest development at PPCS' Dunedin processing plant a little sinister.

The meat company is about to finish trials on a knife-wielding robot that can remove the pelvis from a lamb's hindquarters with the precision of a surgeon.

The Machine is so smart that as well as measuring the size of the carcass before it begins cutting, it can sense when a blade is getting blunt and change knives.

The robot is a joint venture between listed manufacturer Scott Technology and PPCS, and will be working in the Silverstream plant when the new season begins in October.

Removing the pelvis was one of the toughest jobs on the meat processing chain, Silverstream plant manager Michael Smith said.

It was one of the highest yielding cuts, but because the bone removal was so difficult meat was often left on the bone when human hands did the cutting.

Removing the bone was also one of the cutting jobs most likely to cause occupational overuse syndrome.

The robot cuts the meat perfectly every time at almost twice the speed of a human, and never complains.

PPCS chief operating officer Keith Cooper described the robot as a quantum leap for the industry.

He would not say what it cost to develop, but said it would pay for itself quickly.

"In the meat industry we tend to look at projects with a very short payback time - within 18 months to two years," he said. "This fits that criterion."

The company had opted to go for the most difficult part of the processing chain with the project, Cooper said.

PPCS now plans to introduce robots into other parts of the chain.

But totally mechanising a processing plant was not a realistic option in the foreseeable future, Cooper said, and the robot was no threat to staff.

The industry faced constant staff shortages, and workers replaced by the robot could be allocated to other parts of the chain.

As part of the joint venture with Scott the company has a licensing agreement to use the robot exclusively for two years.