Other pipeline projects expected to be announced in March/April

Jamaican conglomerate Jamaica Broilers Group has announced investments of some $800 million in upgrades to its operations.

The company is expanding its loading bay while upgrading its chicken processing facilities. In addition to these expansion initiatives, Jamaica Broilers will be announcing in the coming weeks some multi-million dollar pipeline projects.

Information reaching Our Today is that the mainly agriculture-based company with subsidiaries in the Caribbean and United States (US) has budgeted some US$3.2 million or approximately J$448 million to expand its loading bay.

This project is expected to take some six months to be built out. While no details have been given about it, the company’s management reports that the investment being made would result in more efficiency in operations, paying back for itself over time.

As for its chicken processing facility, Jamaica Broilers will be investing US$2.5 million or approximately J$350 million in “evisceration upgrade”.

This process will be the rolling out of cutting-edge technology to clean and process chicken meat.

More upgrades to chicken processing plant

The new upgrade to its chicken procession facility will complement those investments already made last year such as the installation of an automated debone machine, which has significantly improved the speed, efficiency and consistency of the debone process. The investment being made will also complement the addition to a new fryer for the company’s chicken nuggets’ line which has increased capacity in this area tremendously.

The improvement to the nugget processing plant has become important as the Best Dressed Chicken Nugget brand is now distributed islandwide in the company’s easy-to-use resealable packs. These upgrades have resulted in improvements that have allowed Jamaica Broilers to better manage its product runs, which further contributed to enhancements in its distribution systems.

Moving technology-related projects forward

In its 2020 annual report, Jamaica Broilers disclosed that it has brought forward to the current financial year all technology-related project timelines in order to ensure swift implementation, troubleshooting and efficiency in this key area.

According to Jamaica Broilers, “technology has and will continue to take on increased significance across the group”.

Having been in operation for over 60 years, Jamaica Broilers has weathered many storms, of which COVID-19 is no different.

The company’s management acknowledged that it has encountered some of the challenges last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic but it has withstood those challenges, which it declared “have brought to the fore the strength and agility of the Jamaica Broilers Group”.

The management highlighted that acquisitions in the United States have been a key growth strategy, which is now evolving into one of growth through expansion.

“The Best Dressed Chicken USA has experienced significant gains over the course of the year and we expect this to continue as we invest in the building of our capacity,” the management reported.