Reach the top of anatomic leg processing

With demand rising for deboned leg meat, processors need to increase their production volumes. Many want to maximize both yield and quality by producing anatomic legs with added skin. ALPINE plays a key role in boosting yield by harvesting a greater volume of skin attached to anatomically cut legs, while also reducing the need for trimming out bone.

Easy control

ALPINE is equipped with an HMI touchscreen for entering the appropriate recipe for the saddles being processed. Are they from a large, medium or small flock, or from a slow-growing flock with longer legs? The mechanical settings will then follow these recipe instructions. Settings can be fine-tuned during production.

The screen can also display real-time and historical performance reports. This is supported by SmartBase internal software. Monitoring provides data insights into back piece detection, leg loss and unprocessed legs. This can be remote and saves labor by eliminating the manual counting of incorrectly processed legs. SmartBase further monitors machine health, which covers motors and sensors and gives useful service information. This allows performance to be kept in shape with minimal need for frequent maintenance.

A consistent job

ALPINE excels in the consistency of its performance, ensuring a high yield, top quality and meat integrity. Its ability to maintain constant, top-level performance for extended periods does away with the need to rely on labor for adjustments. Operating consistently on a given flock or even all day, its simple construction and low sensitivity to weight changes reduce dependence on labor for operation and servicing of the machine.

Legs stay in the shackle

For anatomic leg cutting, incisions need to be made on the inside of the groin. This enables tendons to be cut through for which operation the hip should ideally be out of its socket. This is easiest when the leg is folded outward, requiring release of the leg from the shackle.

ALPINE employs a unique Hip Dislocation Wheel located in the middle of the module. This takes control of the hip tilting movement but without either exerting high levels of force on the leg or taking the leg out of the shackle. ALPINE therefore stays in complete control of the in-line leg between infeed and outfeed. Legs stay in the shackles throughout the process, resulting in improved performance.

Back piece detection

Back pieces between the legs need to be separated correctly. This stops incorrectly cut legs from proceeding to the Thigh Fillet System. Once ALPINE has processed the leg, it detects whether or not the back piece has been correctly cut out. Integrated SmartBase machine software gives information, remotely if needed, on leg loss, unprocessed legs, and detected back pieces. Back piece detection performance monitoring is easy to access via the system’s HMI touchscreen. 

Product drops

Damaged hocks or broken tarsals can, however, influence the leg losses. Leg loss with ALPINE is truly minimal and is accurately measured. It can be checked on the HMI screen, allowing corrective action to be taken. 
Previously, legs could drop from the line at different points. ALPINE improves performance considerably by keeping legs in the shackles and effectively preventing them from falling out. Highly accurate leg processing minimizes rework, saving valuable time, labor and resources.

Weight range without adjustments

When one considers the range of weights handled in markets across the world, ALPINE’s ability to handle these without needing major adjustment is a big advantage. ALPINE has increased the range of weights it can handle. It handles products from 1.2 kg to 3.0 kg [2.6-6.6 lbs] and the super HD even reaches 4.5 kg [9.9 lbs] eviscerated weight. ALPINE can therefore process US big birds. Even wide in-flock variations are no problem. ALPINE operates with unprecedented tolerances and will still deliver optimum performance - unsupervised.

Groin skin

Thanks to ALPINE’s simple build, minimal adjustments are needed during production. Manual settings at three positions can be made for each flock or even for the whole day’s production, making for stable, consistent operation. 
In some markets, groin skin is appreciated for its additional weight, whereas other markets don’t want any groin skin on their quality leg products. For the latter, Marel’s optional Anatomic Leg Skin Trimming Module HP automatically removes groin skin, enabling precise product specifications to be met. This unique module saves a considerable amount of manual trimming labor.

Benchmark

ALPINE can be used with both ACM-NT and ACM-EH cut-up shackles at a capacity of up to 7,200 bph [120 ppm]. It fits easily into any water or air-chilled line and is an ideal partner for the Thigh Fillet System, enabling high-yield thigh deboning. ALPINE sets a new benchmark for anatomic leg processing.