Automated Hock Height Cutting

This project aims to improve the hook cut station in lamb kill floor at Brooklyn, which has been causing over cutting on fore shanks HAM 5030, leading to waste and inefficiency. The current manual height adjustment system at the hook cut station is inefficient and prone to human error, leading to inconsistent cutting and significant yield loss. Over-cutting of the fore shanks HAM 5030 further adds to unnecessary waste. After evaluating alternatives to automate the cutting height adjustment, vision-based solutions were found unsuitable due to reliability issues caused by lighting, lens cleanliness and waterproofing concerns. Instead, incorporating IP65 Laser Distance Sensors for knee height sensing offers superior accuracy and stability in the wet processing environments like the kill floor. This project will develop and demonstrate an automated hock height cutting system for lamb that incorporates the actuation of existing saw with knee-height sensing to improve cutting accuracy and eliminate reliance on manual adjustments. The system will automatically adjust the cutting height based on real-time carcass measurements, ensuring precise and consistent cuts. Key features will include knee height sensing, a rotary blade system and a compact design that integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructure. According JBS’s initial calculations, this solution is expected to save approximately $700,000 annually by improving cutting accuracy and reducing waste.