Meat Sortation System Segmentation for Cut Uniformity
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for sorting bovine animal carcasses based on weight, yield grade, or quality grade fail to produce cuts of meat with similar characteristics, resulting in variations in size, weight, and composition within groups.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for sorting animal protein by determining desired characteristics and associating them with attributes, measuring attributes, and grouping similar attributes together for further processing to achieve uniform cuts of meat.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If carcasses are sorted based on weight, then processing efficiency is improved, but uniformity of cuts of meat deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sorting process is divided into multiple stages: initial sorting by weight/yield grade/quality grade, followed by further sorting within each group based on additional attributes such as ribeye area, muscle size, and fat thickness. This segmented approach allows efficient batch processing while achieving uniformity within smaller subgroups.
Solution Approach 2:
Different attributes are used to sort different groups of carcasses. For example, ribeye area is used for one group, while muscle size and fat thickness are used for another group. Each group is sorted based on the attribute that most affects the desired cut characteristics, allowing local optimization of uniformity.
2Productivity
If carcasses are sorted based on yield grade, then processing efficiency is improved, but uniformity of cuts of meat deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sorting process is divided into multiple stages: initial sorting by weight/yield grade/quality grade, followed by further sorting within each group based on additional attributes such as ribeye area, muscle size, and fat thickness. This segmented approach allows efficient batch processing while achieving uniformity within smaller subgroups.
Solution Approach 2:
Different attributes are used to sort different groups of carcasses. For example, ribeye area is used for one group, while muscle size and fat thickness are used for another group. Each group is sorted based on the attribute that most affects the desired cut characteristics, allowing local optimization of uniformity.
3Productivity
If carcasses are sorted based on quality grade, then processing efficiency is improved, but uniformity of cuts of meat deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sorting process is divided into multiple stages: initial sorting by weight/yield grade/quality grade, followed by further sorting within each group based on additional attributes such as ribeye area, muscle size, and fat thickness. This segmented approach allows efficient batch processing while achieving uniformity within smaller subgroups.
Solution Approach 2:
Different attributes are used to sort different groups of carcasses. For example, ribeye area is used for one group, while muscle size and fat thickness are used for another group. Each group is sorted based on the attribute that most affects the desired cut characteristics, allowing local optimization of uniformity.
4Manufacturing precision
If multiple sorting attributes are used, then uniformity of cuts of meat is improved, but system complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sorting process is divided into multiple stages: initial sorting by weight/yield grade/quality grade, followed by further sorting within each group based on additional attributes such as ribeye area, muscle size, and fat thickness. This segmented approach allows efficient batch processing while achieving uniformity within smaller subgroups.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary sorting by weight, yield grade, and quality grade before conducting additional sorting by specific attributes. This preliminary action reduces the overall population into manageable groups, making subsequent sorting operations more efficient and less complex.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for sorting animal protein is provided. The method includes determining a desired characteristic of a cut of meat from an animal portion and associating the desired characteristic with an attribute of the animal portion. The attribute is ascertained and the animal portion is sorted based on the ascertained attribute. Like animal portions are grouped together for further processing as a group.