Tyson Foods is beefing up its capacity and investing in automation. Spoiler alert, it’s nothing to bawk at.
By the numbers: Tyson has committed $1.8B to increase capacity in the next 2 years.
- During this time, 12 new plants will start operations, lifting production to nearly 1.3B pounds.
- Fully cooked products will see a 30% increase, as 7 plants add these capabilities.
- Value-added products will increase by 40% thanks to 2 new beef and pork plants.
- $450M will go toward automation and robotics, which would cut about 3,000 jobs by 2024.
The investment in automation will largely replace human labor in the chicken deboning process, one of the most labor-intensive positions responsible for some of the highest turnover.
Where this goes: In fiscal 2021, Tyson only hit 80% capacity utilization for chickens slaughtered. By the end of FY22 they plan to hit 85% with an ultimate goal of reaching 98% capacity utilization in the years to come.
Tyson isn’t the only bird to fly the labor coop. Deloitte reported that 60% of food industry executives they surveyed are actively looking to automate work.
A soundbite: “We have substantial opportunity to automate the debone process within our poultry harvest facilities using the combination of both third-party and proprietary technologies,” said Tyson president and CEO, Donnie King.