At Norsk Kylling, progress is a mindset. The Norwegian poultry processor is recognized for its commitment to quality, animal welfare, and sustainability. Operating from a state-of-the-art facility in Orkanger, the company processes around 22 million birds annually, employs over 360 people, and generates a turnover exceeding USD 200 million.
Leading the plant’s cut-up and deboning operations is Adam Berk, Head of Cut-up & Deboning at Norsk Kylling, who has overseen several technology upgrades in recent years. When Meyn prepared the rollout of its next-generation Rapid breast deboning system, Berk and his team were chosen as field-trial partners to validate the new system in full-scale production.
From first idea to full-scale Meyn Rapid Plus M5.0 trial
Four years earlier, Meyn design engineers Fred de Vos, Marcel Verhagen, and Jeroen Wijtten had the idea to further improve deboned breast meat yield by measuring breast sizes and approach every single product individually with a, meanwhile patented, four-blade wishbone-removal principle that automatically adjusts to each individual breast.
Two years later, during a visit to Meyn’s R&D department at the Oostzaan headquarters in the Netherlands, Berk from Norsk Kylling saw the first prototype of what would become the Rapid M5.0 in operation. The difference was immediately clear: a cleaner wishbone cut, quieter operation, and smoother performance thanks to the mechanically driven principle replacing pneumatics.
“We could tell this was something new,” he recalls. “From that moment, we wanted to be among the first to run it in our plant.”
That visit marked the beginning of a close collaboration to test the M5.0 technology under real production conditions in Orkanger.
Upgrading from Rapid Plus M4.3 to Rapid plus M5.0 technology
The field trial began with a direct replacement from Norsk Kylling’s M4.3 to the M5.0 technology. Together with Meyn’s R&D team, the team planned every detail in advance, allowing the entire carousel replacement to take place over a single weekend. Production restarted on Monday morning with only minimal fine-tuning required.
During the following months, Norsk Kylling’s production and quality teams gathered operational data on yield, bone content, and uptime, sharing their findings with Meyn’s engineers. The results were clear: the Rapid Plus M5.0 increased average yield by 4g per fillet, adding 140 tons of meat per year. Maintenance and cleaning became faster, and operators noticed a quieter, more stable line. Berk points out that the gain equals roughly 700 000 extra meals per year, without processing a single additional bird.
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