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Tyson Automating Meat-Processing Plants, Reducing Labor Costs, Improving Efficiency Tyson, the largest American meat company by sales, said that it has invested around $70 million this year and will invest more than $500 million in 2022 as it automates many labor-intensive sections like deboning chicken products.

By The Epoch Times Edited by Charles Muselli

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Tyson Foods is planning on investing over $1.3 billion over the next three years in new automation capabilities, according to an announcement on Thursday, as part of the company's efforts to improve savings and reduce labor costs.

Tyson, the largest American meat company by sales, said that it has invested around $70 million this year and will invest more than $500 million in 2022 as it automates many labor-intensive sections like deboning chicken products. This investment is equivalent to replacing 2,000 jobs, according to David Bray, group president of Tyson's poultry division.

Pandemic-related restrictions and employee shortages have left many meat processors unable to fulfill demand as the economy starts reopening and customers like restaurants and grocery chains demand a regular supply of protein.

"We are not servicing our customers to the degree that they expect us to," said Bray, to Reuters. Bray added that the company is looking at slaughtering 47 million birds a week in the near future from the 37 million in 2021, which is only 80 percent capacity utilization. "Demand is outpacing supply."

On a webcast with investors, Chief Executive Donnie King said that, with the expanded automation systems, the company estimates to save more than $450 million by 2024.

"Automation will help us increase volumes, improve reliability and reduce cost over the mid to long term," King said on the call. "We plan to use automation to reduce the number of hard-to-fill roles."

Replacing workers with machines will also resolve the high worker turnover issue faced by many meat processing plants across the country. Around 59,000 workers in the meatpacking sector were infected with the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, according to a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee report that ran data through January.

Almost 15 to 20 percent of Tyson workers were not showing up for work because of child care issues and pandemic-related problems. In August, the company had mandated vaccines for all 120,000 of its employees in the United States.

Citing inflationary price increases for raw materials, the company hiked product prices, following which, revenues have gone up. Revenues went up by 12 percent to $12.8 billion in the fourth quarter, and earnings have increased to $1.36 billion. This is more than double that in 2020.

The Arkansas-based meat company is also in expansion mode as it plans to open 12 more plants over the next two years. This will increase its capacity by about 1.3 billion pounds of meat.

Besides automation, Tyson is also spending heavily on digital technology like artificial intelligence and predictive analytics which it estimates will save about $250 million as efficiency is optimized in logistics, operations, and supply chain management.

Tyson stock has gone up 30 percent this year, surpassing the S&P 500 which is up by 24.7 percent.

"We are focused on improving our process effectiveness across our broader operations and functions. Our new productivity initiative is designed to drive a better, faster, and more agile organization that is supported by a culture of continuous improvement and faster decision making," said King.

By Naveen Athrappully

The Epoch Times, founded in 2000, is headquartered in Manhattan, New York, with a mission to provide independent and accurate information free of political bias or corporate influence. The organization was established in response to censorship within China and a lack of global awareness regarding the Chinese regime's repression of the spiritual practice Falun Gong.

The Epoch Times is a widely read newspaper that is distributed in 33 countries and is available in 21 languages. The publication has been critical in providing balanced and detailed reporting on major global events such as the 2003 SARS pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis. Notably, the organization has played a key role in exposing corruption inside China.

Aside from its human rights coverage, The Epoch Times has made significant contributions in a variety of fields. It has received praise for its in-depth analysis and expert perspectives on business, the economy and U.S. politics. The newspaper has also received praise for its broad coverage of these topics.

A series of editorials titled "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" appeared in The Epoch Times in 2004. It asserts that freedom and prosperity in China can only be achieved by eliminating the Communist Party, which violated China's cultural and spiritual values. In addition, the organization led the Tuidang movement, which resulted in over 400 million Chinese citizens quitting the Communist Party. In spite of this, 90% of websites referring to the "Nine Commentaries" were blocked by the Chinese regime.

The Epoch Times has been at the forefront of investigating high-level corruption cases within the Chinese regime, with its reporters taking significant risks to uncover these stories. The organization has received several awards for its investigative journalism.

The organization has received several awards for its investigative journalism. For more, visit www.theepochtimes.com.

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