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From left: Ralf Kleinehanding, Hanna Feinkost management, Bernhard Wissing, management board, and Thomas Heidenescher, Marel Germany.

The excellent results achieved with equipment for resizing raw material at Hanna Feinkost – one of the leading producers of convenience poultry products in Germany – quickly led to the purchase of additional equipment.

Nowadays, poultry raw material, including butterflies and fillets, tends to be bigger and heavier than before.  Consumers, on the other hand, are demanding smaller products, which means that the chicken fillets have to be downsized and portioned.  In order to maximize the yield from the raw material, processors have to be able to find the right cutting pattern for a resized final product,
using near perfect cutting optics.

Finding the right one
“Because of Marel’s large selection of moulding equipment, the company was our first choice when looking for equipment to resize fillets,” says Ralf Kleinehagen from the management team at Hanna Feinkost.

The first task at Hanna Feinkost was to cut the chicken fillets into a range of different shapes, with a fixed weight for each piece. The positive results of a demonstration of Marels TSM, Template Slicing Machine, combined with the ability to customise the moulds for different shapes and sizes, immediately convinced management to take a closer look at the Marel solution. Soon thereafter, the decision was made to acquire the machine. “After the successful installation, we soon ordered a second Template Slicing Machine,” adds Bernhard Wissing from the Hanna Feinkost management board.

Accurate, ultra-fast portion cutting
Hanna Feinkost also wanted to optimise the use of large inner fillets by cutting them into fillets and nuggets, while retaining the natural look of the product.

I-Cut 22 Intelligent Portioning Machine - read more

With the I-Cut 22 Intelligent Portioning Machine, the inner fillets can be cut into nuggets of an equal weight range. The integrated laser camera scans each fillet individually and makes the cut with a view to the best possible exploitation of the raw material. The unique 45° cutting angle capability means that the end products – fillets as well as nuggets – maintain a natural appearance. Using the I-Cut 22, Hanna Feinkost has been able to process up  to 13 tons of inner fillets per day. “The new equipment is a huge step forward that gives us more flexibility in raw material procurement and in production control,” concludes Ralf Kleinehanding.