Marel USA has signed a contract with Pennexx Foods, Inc. a leading provider of case-ready meat to retail supermarkets in the Northeast, to create a state-of-the-art case-ready facility in Philadelphia. Pennexx cuts, processes, packages and delivers case-ready beef, pork, lamb and veal to approximately 15 customers, including ShopRite, Pathmark and A&P.

The new Philadelphia plant will be equipped with Marel's industry-proven, meat processing flowline technology, which combines an equipment solution with a user-friendly live software system. Key product and manufacturing information in the system is continuously monitored, providing the company with real-time production control.

Marel has long been a leader in the design and manufacture of meat processing solutions. Dan Bernkopf, vice president of Marel's Meat Division, explains: "We have combined our core equipment and software-applied technologies to attain Pennexx's standard of excellence in case-ready processing and production control.

“Its cost-effective, versatile, durable and easy-to-clean machines are a perfect fit for our new plant,” said Michael Queen, president and CEO of Pennexx. “They assessed our capacity needs and made recommendations for a comprehensive meat processing system that will enable us to be a low-cost producer of case-ready meat. Once we complete the consolidation into our new facility and begin production, we anticipate that the new processing lines will improve production flow from preparation to packing, and improve overall yield. By running at optimal capacity, we will be in a strong position to meet the growing demand of case-ready meat from our retail customers in the Northeast."