The use of a PORTIO 3-300 helped Anderson Beef increase yields by 8% to 13% every week

Anderson Boneless Beef is a toll processor specializing in custom portion cuts and grinds, high-quality and retail-ready packaging, private USDA labels, and third-party meat distribution. With over 60 years in business as a food distributor, the company pivoted to become a single-ingredient processor. An acquisition by Food Maven, prompted a fresh look at their meat portioning process.

The original processing system was based on hand-cut which generated a lot of waste. Mack Starr, vice president at Anderson Boneless Beef said “one of the first things we noticed was our yields were below industry standards because we were hand cutting everything and hand cutting such a wide variety of products”.

Hand cutting restricted their capacity to increase daily output. The manual technique limited production to approximately 8,000 to 10,000 lbs per week, posing a severe bottleneck to the company's potential to expand. As a result, Anderson opted to search for a solution that would allow them to automate their meat portioning process while also increasing overall yields.

Anderson Beef approached Ross Industries to discuss potential solutions to their situation. The MARELEC PORTIO 3-300 was suggested due to its speed, accuracy, and ability to entirely automate the cutting process. Using the PORTIOs 3 camera and laser technology to scan the material, the machine can determine where to cut the product to optimise yield and minimise giveaway based on the product density.

Optional features such as grader integration and front and back holders reduced product waste by keeping the first and final primal slices upright and stable during cutting.  “The front holder and the back holder are incredible” Starr said. “Most other machines don’t have that, so you know the products are not falling down whenever you put it on the belt; its not falling when it starts cutting”.

“We liked the PORTIO the best out of everything we looked at, and we liked Ross the best out of everyone we talked to. So, it was kind of a no-brainer at that point,” Starr said.

Anderson went from having below-industry-average product yields to consistently producing above-industry yields. They began with six cutters cutting 8,000 to 10,000 pounds a week at a minimum. Today, they have three cutters trimming and cutting 20,000 to 40,000 pounds each week.

In the long run, investment in cutting-edge machinery results in superior products and increased profitability.