Snellman Oy in Pietarsaari on the Baltic coast, whose activities include slaughtering and meat processing, is “right on track” with their goal to increase annual production by 17%.
To meet this goal, in 2011 they built a completely new abattoir with carcass coolers for the sole purpose of slaughtering pigs and sows. This hall is located next to the current abattoir where different species can be slaughtered. Having finished construction, they are now able to simultaneously slaughter up to 40 cattle and 250 pigs (125 sows) an hour, thereby doubling the current figures for fresh meat production.
Overview of the new quick chill tunnel area
Automatic conveyance to the cutting and deboning area
The building is now 4,000 m² larger, of which 1,000 m² is for collecting and processing by-products, such as blood and intestines, 1,000 m² is for the new slaughtering area, and 2,000 m² is for the quick chill tunnel system and a large number of carcass cooling rooms. This extension represents an investment of more than EUR 10 million for Snellman.
The abattoir for pigs and sows includes state-of-the-art facilities with ergonomic conveyor systems for removing white and red organs, elevating platforms for the majority of operators and non-slip floors in all areas. The building also uses daylight in the building wherever needed in combination with sufficient neon lighting, and employs a multiple approach with sanitary sluices from the various social, changing and sanitary areas.
Snellman’s slaughtering line is from MPS meat processing systems in the Netherlands, while the group stunning system comes from Butina, the automatic livestock handling system from Backloader, the robotised carcass splitting system from Durand, and the effluent treatment system from MPS Aqua, all MPS subsidiaries.
The system includes:
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A CO2 group stunner including automatic separation and loading of livestock.
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A vertical (hanging) scalding tunnel system in combination with the double Tarzan dehairing machines.
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A complete automatic carcass finishing line with a decontamination furnace for hygienic carcass production.
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Inkjet stamping for carcass track and trace.
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Automatic separation and removal of inedible materials at various points during the slaughtering process.
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Automatic re-trimming conveyor systems to avoid any cross-contamination risks.
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A quick chill tunnel conveyor system with various temperature zones.
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An equaliser carcass cooling zone with fully automatic warehousing and grading selection of over 45 options.
Automatic conveyor systems directly connect the cooling zone to the cutting and deboning area, thereby ensuring an on-demand delivery of the required carcass grade and number of carcasses to the deboning area. Gambrels are automatically washed, stored and returned to the gambrelling tables from the various production rooms.
Mr Snellman: “By separating the slaughtering lines and creating a specific line per species, we have already noticed an increase in the quality of the final product because of the improved hygienic conditions, which the use of separate carcass cooling systems has also contributed to.” The company has been able to reduce the operational costs per tonnage of fresh meat because of the efficiency of the separate slaughtering lines. Additional efficiency is still possible with the implementation of further slaughtering automation, such as the Durand carcass splitting saw.
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