JBT Marel has introduced OneFlow, a buffering unit that returns fillets to the conveyor belt at the right moment after manual tasks in the post-deboning process, keeping up to 120 fillets per minute in a consistent, singulated flow. It works with the AMF-i breast meat deboning system, trimming stations and SensorX, and is designed to cut labour, rejects and product overlap before cutting or packing.
The key component of OneFlow is the dropper, a product holding hopper above the belt that acts as a buffer and release bin. Operators place treated products in the dropper while the software tracks the position of each meat piece on the belt and detects when an empty space becomes available. The product is held until that moment and then released long side leading, so the infeed for downstream processes is both singulated and accurately positioned.
At the AMF-i breast meat deboning system, operators grade fillets as A or B. B-grade fillets go onto the top belt for manual trimming, while A-grade fillets go into the dropper and are released onto the main product belt, where they remain untouched for the rest of the process. At a trimming station, trimmed products enter the dropper and return to the belt only when there is space between the products already on it.
Rework at SensorX is a third application: a reworked fillet put back too close to another fillet with a bone would be rejected again, and buffering in the dropper prevents this. A singulated outfeed benefits graders, portion cutters and packers and removes the operator who repositions products on the belt. With the dropper right next to the cutting area, operators no longer reach over to the conveyor belt, and less manual handling also benefits food safety.
For Birgir Freyr Ragnarsson, JBT Marel Global Product Manager, the gain lies in the timing: “By correctly timing the reinsertion of products on the belt, OneFlow increases efficiency and yield while reducing labor costs. It eliminates the need for an additional operator whose sole task was to position products before cutting or packing.”
