Randers, 10 february 2010
The mincers are extremely busy at the Danish Crown facility in Skjern in western Jutland.
- We like breaking records, and we are well under way to doing just that again, says Jørn Madsen, DC Factory Manager in Skjern. At the moment, the plant produces 45 tonnes of minced meat a day – or the equivalent of 90,000 trays. However, on some days, they hit the 115,000-tray mark.
- We can see that minced meat is the focus of considerable attention among consumers, both as regards its fat content and quality, says Jørn Madsen.
It is against this background that the facility in Skjern is now churning out 300 tonnes of minced beef a week.
Jørn Madsen is convinced that one of the reasons for the strong demand is that customers can rely on the quality being high, and on the contents living up to the information on the product labels.
- Our products are packaged in a modified atmosphere with a guaranteed shelf-life of at least 7 days from the day of packaging, he says.
The facility in Skjern is part of Danish Crown’s Beef Division. In addition to producing minced meat, the facility also debones, cuts and packs meat for the Danish market.
In Skjern, there is a lot of focus on quality, and production routines are regularly adjusted to live up to consumer requirements.
- We are constantly striving to make our products even better and more attractive for consumers. For example, we have increased the fineness of the mince so that it looks better in the cool counter, explains Chang Olesen, Retail Master.
A total of 130 people are working in production, including approx. 40 in the retail section. The strong demand has also meant that the factory will be starting up a new night shift in week 8.
Since adding a third minced meat line in early summer 2009, the department has gradually been able to increase productivity.
According to Chang Olesen, there is one good reason why it has been possible to keep up with the strong increase in demand.
- It is entirely due to our highly skilled and very flexible employees, who have worked extremely hard, he says.