SA Premier Poultry Business Plan — Operations
The kill line, chilling and packing flow, yield management, cold chain and the shift structure behind 14,000 birds a day.
Operations
Jump to section
- Overview & contents
- i. Important Notice and Basis of Preparation
- 1. Executive Summary
- 2. Scale and Business Model
- 3. Registration, Food Safety and Compliance
- 4. Market and Customers
- 5. SWOT and Competitive Position
- 6. Operations
- 7. Financial Plan
- 8. Break-Even and Debt Service
- 9. Investment Analysis
- 10. Sensitivity and Scenario Analysis
- 11. Risk Analysis
- 12. Implementation Roadmap
- 13. Key Performance Indicators
- 14. Key Assumptions
- 15. Conclusion and Recommendation
- A. Appendix A: Consolidated Financial Summary
- B. Appendix B: Throughput, Yield and Cost Schedules
- C. Appendix C: Funding, Debt and Working Capital Schedules
- D. Appendix D: Risk Register
- E. Appendix E: Glossary
- 6.1 The processing line
- 6.2 Yields
- 6.3 Processing cost
- 6.4 Organisation
6.1 The processing line
|
Stage |
What happens |
|---|---|
|
Live reception and lairage |
Birds received, rested, ante-mortem inspection by the registered inspector |
|
Stunning and bleeding |
Welfare-compliant stunning, bleed-out on the line |
|
Scalding and plucking |
Controlled scald temperature, mechanical plucking, foot removal |
|
Evisceration |
Automated and manual evisceration; post-mortem inspection; giblet recovery |
|
Chilling |
Air or immersion chilling to the required core temperature |
|
Grading and portioning |
Whole bird grading, deboning and portioning to order |
|
Packing and freezing |
Fresh packing or blast freezing, labelling and palletising |
|
Cold storage and despatch |
Chilled and frozen holding, order assembly, refrigerated distribution |
The line is specified at 2 000 birds an hour, which delivers 8 000 birds in a 4.0-hour processing shift with time for cleaning and sanitation. That deliberate spare capacity is what makes the second shift possible without replacing the line — and it is why the incremental capital in Year 4 is R14 200 000 against an original R74 530 000.
6.2 Yields
|
Yield assumption |
Value |
Note |
|---|---|---|
|
Average live weight delivered |
1.95 kg |
Industry survey average slaughter weight is 1.77 kg |
|
Dead on arrival and condemnations |
0.8% |
Deducted before processing |
|
Dressed yield |
73.0% |
Eviscerated carcass as a percentage of live weight |
|
Dressed weight per bird |
1.423 kg |
The saleable carcass |
|
By-product recovery per bird |
R5.22 |
Feet, heads, necks, giblets and rendered meal |
6.3 Processing cost
|
Processing cost per bird |
Amount |
Note |
|---|---|---|
|
Direct processing labour |
R1.94 |
|
|
Electricity — line, chillers, freezers |
R1.28 |
|
|
Packaging and labelling |
R1.32 |
|
|
Water and effluent treatment |
R0.68 |
High-strength effluent; treatment is the larger part |
|
Cleaning, sanitation and chemicals |
R0.44 |
|
|
Meat inspection fees |
R0.42 |
Statutory inspection service |
|
Consumables, blades and maintenance parts |
R0.31 |
|
|
Outbound distribution and cold chain delivery |
R1.05 |
Refrigerated delivery to customer |
|
Waste and condemned material disposal |
R0.21 |
|
|
Total processing cost per bird |
R7.65 |
|
|
Contract slaughter cost per bird |
R6.92 |
Excludes most packaging |
Labour, electricity and packaging together are R4.54 of the R7.65 — nearly two-thirds. Electricity at R1.28 a bird is the line most exposed to tariff movement, and chilling and freezing are continuous loads that cannot be shed, which is why standby generation is budgeted at R2 900 000 of capital and R1 320 000 of annual utilities base load.
6.4 Organisation
|
Function |
Role in the plant |
Note |
|---|---|---|
|
Plant management |
Overall accountability for yield, throughput, food safety and cost |
The dressed yield and contribution-per-bird reports are this function’s daily output |
|
Production and line supervision |
Slaughter, evisceration, chilling, portioning and packing across the shift |
Shift leadership doubles on the second shift from Year 4 |
|
Quality assurance and food safety |
HMS, HACCP verification, laboratory, traceability and customer audits |
Independent of production, reporting to plant management |
|
Live bird procurement |
Grower contracting, scheduling, price formulas and intake quality |
Manages the single largest cost line in the business |
|
Sales and customer service |
Own-account customers, order assembly, contract slaughter accounts |
The own-account share depends entirely on this function’s success |
|
Cold chain and distribution |
Chilled and frozen holding, order assembly, refrigerated delivery |
Five vehicles at single shift; temperature records are a compliance obligation |
|
Engineering and maintenance |
Line, refrigeration, effluent plant and standby generation |
A refrigeration failure is a stock loss and a food safety event at once |
|
Finance and administration |
Working capital, grower payment within 7 days, debtor collection at 38 |
Working capital management is a board-level responsibility here, not a clerical one |
The plant employs 106 people on a single shift and materially more on two, and it creates contracted demand for ten to fifteen broiler growers. Two functions carry disproportionate weight: live bird procurement, which manages 63 per cent of revenue, and quality assurance, which protects the registration on which everything else depends.