yield will decrease "shrinkage costs" by about 0.35 cents per pound, i'* For 

 a plant rated at 5,000 broilers per hour, this saving would be equivalent 

 to about one-fourth the annual payroll of operating personnel. A plant can 

 well afford a few additional employees on the line and an efficient staff 

 at the managerial, office and supervisory levels. 



Labor Efficiency 



The levels of labor efficiency attained in the model plants exceed those ob- 

 served in actual plants. They are somewhat less than might be derived by 

 synthesizing operations on the basis of job time studies or than is sug- 

 gested by equipment manufacturing firms. One of the dangers involved 

 in synthesizing operations from time studies or standards is that some con- 

 tributing functions may be ignored. 



Waste time on individual jobs is difficult to eliminate entirely. As plant 

 size increases, a greater proportion of the labor force is employed at near- 

 peak efficiency, but jobs cannot be adequately separated to achieve this 

 status completely, i'' In actual plants, sporadic variations in volume, chang- 

 ing plant sizes, forms in which product is sold, and problems associated 

 with labor turnover and training new employees limit efficiency. 



The projected numbers of operating employees required in the 10 model 

 plant sizes when operating at 100 percent of capacity are shown, by major 

 functions in Table o. The receiving, hanging, and killing functions also 

 involve unloading and handling crates, crate repair, and the feeding incident 

 to carrying an occasional load of birds in batteries. The dressing operation 

 covers personnel to reverse birds where necessary, machine operators (in- 

 cluding quill pullers on all lines), and pinners. The eviscerating operation 

 includes transfer to that line, full drawing except kidneys, giblet handling, 

 knife sharpeners, final inspectors (trimmers) and assistants to government 

 inspectors. The latter are included at the rate of one per 1200-1500 birds. 

 The sizing, cooling, packing, and shipping group includes removal from 

 the eviscerating line and rehanging on the automatic sizer, packing, grading, 

 weighing, marking, box closing, handlers, and box makers. Table 8 also 

 includes the number of employees required for non-operating functions. 



While the volume of broilers per hour increases 67 times from 150 to 

 10.000 per hour, relative increases in numbers of employees are much 

 smaller. In terms of full-time (equivalent) employees the following rates 

 of increase by function occur: receiving, hanging, killing, 30; dressing, 15; 

 eviscerating, 31; cutting-up. 48; sizing, cooling, packing, shipping, 29; 

 cleaning, repairing, maintenance, 10; supervision, 16; office, 22; manage- 

 ment, 18. The lower the rate of increase in numbers of employees, the 

 higher the resulting increase in output per employee. 



Table 9 shows the output per worker in the 10 model plants both for 

 broilers and fowl. Output per worker in the dressing function is 4 times 



14 The term "shrinkage cost" is accepted industry terminology. Confronted with a 

 specified market price, an increase in yield would increase revenue because the number 

 of pounds marketed would be greater. In another sense, the overall margin between 

 live cost and processed value can be affected by yield. 



l"" This point was well illustrated in ihe following study: Gerald. J. 0., and H. S. 

 Kahle: Marketing Georgia Broilers Thiough Commercial Processing Plants. Mkt. Res. 

 Rpt. No. 83. Agr'l. Mktg. Service, IJ.'S.D.A. in cooperation with Georgia Expt. Sta., 

 March 1955. 



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