THE beef industry got an up-close look at the much hyped technology, a dual energy x-ray absorptiometer (DEXA), at a workshop held by Teys last week.
The DEXA machine – designed to increase accuracy of carcase yield assessment – has been developed during the past three years by Scott Automation and Robotics in Rydalmere, which has also been successful in developing effective machines for the lamb industry.
However, this concept is not new. It has been used in the chicken and lamb processing systems since 1987, but it has only been on the radar in a commercial sense in Australia since 2014, when Meat and Livestock Australia teamed with Teys Australia to develop a system relevant to beef.
Teys’ workshop was held at its Jindalee Feedlot, Stockinbingal, where the concept and equipment was introduced by Teys Australia general manager of corporate services, Tom Maguire.
“In a world which is rapidly changing, we think this DEXA technology is an important foundation for the development of the beef industry,” Mr Maguire said.
“We are under pressure from competition all the time… beef is now four times the price of chicken and consumers are trading down.”
Mr Maguire noted three reasons for Teys Australia adopting the latest system, and said the beef industry had gone past having the attitude that automation can’t be a part of beef processing.
These included the increasing adoption of automation in beef processing, the ability for this technology to increase accountability, and an increase in yield accuracy and feedback data.
“We need this kind of DEXA technology to give [producers] really accurate yield feedback, and we are really excited about the potential for automation in our plants,” he said.
“Teys are also excited about DEXA because we can make our boning rooms much more accountable for the product we recover.”
Mr Maguire said Teys anticipated breaking the carcase into the various components - meat, fat and bone – by ‘teaching’ the machine to differentiate between each segment.
Maximum value can then be extracted, which will in turn be passed on to the producer through potential premium payments for higher yielding bodies.
Mr Maguire said the use of robotics had been used within the pork and poultry industries for some time.
“This objective technology… can define potential cutting lines of each carcase and start holding our boning room teams accountable for every product they produce.”
