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Global Impact: How Emydex Software is Transforming the Pork Processing Industry

Emydex Technology has been a cornerstone in the pork processing industry, providing Pork Processing Software solutions that enhance operational efficiency and traceability for pork processors worldwide.

With over 100 years of collective experience supplying factory-floor Traceability and production control software systems to Pork Processors in primal, secondary, and value-added Pork processing plants operating across Ireland, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Emydex has established itself as a leader in the field.

Here are some highlights of Emydex’s successful partnerships over the past 20 years:

Dawn Pork & Bacon

  • Location: Co. Waterford, Ireland
  • Activity: Primal Pork Processor
  • Emydex Customer Since: 2006
  • Duration: 18 years
  • Achievements: Utilises Emydex software for packing, warehousing, dispatch, sales order processing, and yield reporting. Customised yield reports for specific requirements.
  • Testimonial:
    “The Emydex suite of software plays an integral part in the day-to-day running of our business. The user-friendly system allows production staff to engage fully with it. As a result, the information the system produces is extremely reliable, enabling us to maintain tight control of our yields, stock management, and supply chain.”
    – Billy Leslie, Financial Controller, Dawn Pork & Bacon
    read full story

Mallon’s Foods

  • Location: Monaghan, Ireland
  • Activity: Value-Added Pork Processor
  • Emydex Customer Since: 2012
  • Duration: 12 years
  • Achievements: Implemented a scalable and flexible production management system covering order control, stock control, recipe formulation, traceability, quality control, and yield control.
  • Testimonial:
    “The key point about Emydex software is the standard module offerings are very comprehensive and cover almost everything we need, and if they don’t have specifically what we need, it’s not a major hassle to change it. With the software and the excellent backup and service from all the staff in Emydex, we feel we have the complete package.”
    – Paul Kearney, Mallon’s Foods
    read full story

Oliver Carty

  • Location: Co. Athlone, Ireland
  • Activity: Value-Added Pork & Bacon Processor
  • Emydex Customer Since: 2011
  • Duration: 13 years
  • Achievements: Implemented Emydex’s Warehouse Management System covering Goods Intake, Dispatch, and Stock Control. Fully integrated with Scanvaegt production lines and financial systems for real-time sales order processing.
  • Testimonial:
    “Emydex’s software development team has an in-depth understanding of real-life production issues and continues to offer innovative solutions to Oliver Carty.”
    – Justin Lennon, IT Manager at Oliver Carty and Family
    read full story

Rosderra Irish Meats Group

  • Location: 4 plants in Ireland
  • Activity: Primal Pork Processor (2 plants) and Value-Added Pork Processor
  • Emydex Customer Since: 2014
  • Duration: 10 years
  • Achievements: Implemented Emydex’s Warehouse Management System in three phases, covering Kill line, Boning Hall, Packing, and Dispatch. Fully integrated with their ERP System.
  • Testimonial:
    “Emydex has demonstrated reliability, consistently meeting deadlines and delivering results that have had a tangible impact on our business. Their customer support team is knowledgeable, responsive, and proactive.”
    – Louis Ennis, Group Financial Accountant at Rosderra Irish Meats
    read full story

Staunton Foods

  • Location: Co. Waterford, Ireland
  • Activity: Primal Pork Processor
  • Emydex Customer Since: 2013
  • Duration: 11 years
  • Achievements: Implemented Emydex’s Pig Kill Line and livestock payments system. Significant business growth attributed to Emydex’s support and expertise.
  • Testimonial:
    “During the last 10-year period, we have seen our business grow substantially… this growth would not have been possible without the help and support of Emydex. The team at Emydex were always available to lend their support and expertise to ensure the end goals were met.”
    – John O’Regan, Sales Manager at Staunton Foods Ltd
    read full story

Sunpork

  • Location: Kingaroy, Queensland, Australia
  • Activity: Primal Pork Processor
  • Emydex Customer Since: 2019
  • Duration: 5 years
  • Achievements: Developed a state-of-the-art, fully automated kill line system. Integrated RFID tracking for real-time carcass identification and traceability.
  • Testimonial:
    “The new pork kill line system is significantly more efficient, reducing manpower and doubling output. We have more data capture points on the factory floor to collect real-time manufacturing information, and we have replaced many manual tasks such as populating spreadsheets.”
    – Geoff Miller, Group CFO and Company Secretary, Sunpork Group
    read full story

Wilson Hellaby Ltd

  • Location: Ruakura, New Zealand
  • Activity: Primal Pork Processor
  • Emydex Customer Since: 2022
  • Duration: 2 years
  • Achievements: Delivered customised solutions for mission-critical areas, integrating seamlessly with hardware and software from other providers.
  • Testimonial:
    “Emydex’s innovative approach to software development has solved challenges within our industry where off-the-shelf solutions just don’t exist. Building solutions that cleanly interface and cooperate with hardware and software from other providers is a forte of the Emydex team. We’re looking forward to working with them in the future to improve our business capabilities.”
    – Justin Lee, Chief Financial Officer, Wilson Hellaby Ltd
    read full story

Emydex’s commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction has made them a trusted partner for pork processing companies globally, driving growth and success. 

In 2024, Emydex is proud to share that our Pork Processing customers have an accumulated 103 years of collective tenure, working with Emydex in over 20 plants around the world. This is a testament to the strong relationships we have built and the trust our customers have in our products and services. We are grateful for their continued support.

 

Company
Industry
Plants
Location
Emydex
Customer
Years
Rosderra
Irish Meats		 Pork Primal
Processor		 4 4 plants in Ireland 2014 – 2024  10
Dawn Pork
& Bacon		 Pork Primal
Processor 		 1 Waterford, Ireland  2006 – 2024 18
Staunton Foods Pork Primal
Processor 		 1 Cork, Ireland  2013 – 2024 11
Kepak McCarren Pork Primal
Processor 		 1 Cavan, Ireland 2016 – 2024 8
Cranswick Plc  Pork Primal
Processor 		 1 Ballymena, UK 2016 – 2024  8
Sunpork
Group		 Pork Primal
Processor 		 1 Queensland,
Australia		 2019 – 2024  5
Pork Processor  Pork Primal
Processor 		 4 4 plants in Canada 2016 – 2024 8
Ruakura Meat
Processors		 Pork Primal
Processor 		 2 Auckland,
New Zealand 		 2022 – 2024 2
Oliver Carty Value Added
Pork Processor		 2 Athlone, Ireland  2011 – 2024 13
Arthur Mallon   Value Added
Pork Processor		 1 Monaghan, Ireland 2012 – 2024 12
O’Brien Fine Foods  Value Added
Pork Processor		 2 Rathowen & Timahoe,
Ireland		 2016 – 2024 8

If you want to learn more – contact Emydex in any of our global market offices in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or North America

Request a Demo

Emydex Software: A Game-Changer for Beef Processors

Emydex, a leading provider of software solutions for the meat processing industry, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024.

For over two decades, Emydex Beef Processing Software has been transforming how leading meat processors operate across the globe. Trusted by industry leaders like Dawn Meats, Central Agri Group, and Ashbourne Meats, Emydex delivers robust, adaptable solutions that improve efficiency, traceability, and productivity throughout the beef supply chain.

Ashbourne Meats in Ireland, an Emydex customer for eight years, praised the Emydex team for their reliability, friendliness, and professionalism. Donal Houlihan, Operations Manager, said, “The Emydex team have an excellent understanding of the Meat Industry. The system is extremely user-friendly, allowing a smooth working environment across all our production lines. Their technology constantly meets our needs in an ever-evolving industry.” read full story.

 

Central Agri Group in Victoria, Australia, has been an Emydex customer for eight years. The Managing Director, Rami Koyu, commended Emydex for its smooth rollout and the positive response from operators. He said, “The Emydex roll-out was one of the smoothest IT system rollouts I have ever been involved in.” read full story.

 

Dawn Meats Group in Ireland, an Emydex customer for twenty years, praised Emydex for its agility. Shane Slattery, Group CIO, said, “For twenty years, Dawn Meats and Emydex have been in a symbiotic partnership, during which time the Emydex solutions have been able to be quickly adapted to changes within both our industry and business.” read full story.

 

Eurofarm Foods in Ireland, an Emydex customer for fourteen years, commended Emydex for its ‘can-do’ attitude as well as excellent helpdesk support. Ciaran Boyle, General Manager, said, “More recently, Emydex were also there to support our business in the immediate aftermath of a cyber-attack on the business in Sept 2021. This was a phenomenal result to say the least.” read full story.

 

Harvey Beef in Western Australia, an Emydex customer for nine years, praised the Emydex team for their willingness to understand their problems and look at solutions. Mike Stephenson, Head of Technology, said, “The team are great to work with and always willing to understand our problems and look at solutions to improve the way our Emydex is integrated with our business.” read full story.

 

Kepak Group in Ireland & UK, an Emydex customer for seventeen years, commended Emydex for its support in their business growth. Jeremy O’Callaghan, Group CIO, said, “Emydex has been an integral part of the system delivery team for Kepak Group for almost two decades, supporting us in our business growth across multiple sites in both Ireland and the UK.” read full story.

 

Liffey Meats in Ireland, a customer operating Emydex in two of its plants, commended Emydex for its ‘can-do’ attitude. Derek McDermott, Chief Financial Officer, said, “Having worked with Dave and his team for the past fourteen years, I can say the key difference with Emydex is their ‘can do’ attitude.” read full story.

 

MeatCo Namibia, an Emydex customer in Southern Africa for thirteen years, praised Emydex for its fit-for-purpose product. Grant Mitchell, IT Manager: Production Systems, said, “Emydex is a Fit for Purpose product, which complements our Business.” read full story.

 

Silver Fern Farms, operating fourteen plants in New Zealand, has been an Emydex customer for four years, currently operating Emydex in two of its plants with further plant rollouts in progress. Matt Ballard, Chief Transformation Officer, highlighted Emydex’s ability to provide greater traceability and process controls, saying, “Emydex has shown it can provide greater traceability and process controls that are positive in meeting Silver Fern Farms needs over the longer term.” read full story.

 

Wilson Hellaby Ltd, with two plants in New Zealand, has been an Emydex customer for three years. Justin Lee, Chief Financial Officer, commended Emydex’s innovative approach to software development, saying, “In both instances, we were able to employ Emydex’s innovative approach to software development to solve challenges within our industry where off-the-shelf solutions just don’t exist.” read full story.

 

These testimonials from just ten of Emydex’s global beef customers highlight the significant benefits that Emydex software brings to beef processors, including smooth rollouts, greater traceability, innovative solutions, and excellent support. These customers have been working with Emydex for 119 years collectively across 36 plants.

Over the past two years, a dedicated team at Emydex HQ in Dublin, Ireland, has collaborated with numerous longstanding beef processing customers to develop a new Industry Standard software solution for the Beef Processing industry. This Vexillum (Latin for ‘Standard’) project aims to create a comprehensive, ready-to-use Manufacturing Execution System (MES) tailored for beef processors. The initial rollout of this system will be undertaken by four Emydex beef processing customers, deploying it across more than 20 beef primary processing facilities in Ireland and the UK.

As Emydex celebrates its 20th anniversary, it looks forward to continuing to provide top-notch solutions for the beef processing industry.

If you want to learn more – contact Emydex in any of our global market offices in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or North America.

Request a Demo

Forresters Chicken Celebrates a Decade of Quality Management with Emydex

Over the past ten years, Forresters Chicken has leveraged Emydex's Quality Management system to enhance accuracy, reduce human error, gain real-time insights into quality data, and improve traceability. This collaboration has significantly transformed Forresters Chicken's operations, ensuring the highest standards of quality and efficiency in their processes.

Meet the Client

Established in 1972, Forresters is one of the largest suppliers of cooked, raw, and coated poultry in the United Kingdom. Based in Cheshire, the company provides retailers, food services, pub retailers, manufacturers, and catering butchers with frozen, chilled branded, and own-label chicken products. To maintain its reputation for high-quality standards, Forresters set out to enhance its quality management processes.

The Opportunity

With a growing client base and increasing production demands, Forresters required a more streamlined and robust approach to quality management. Existing manual quality checks were resource-intensive and prone to human error, especially as production volumes rose. Furthermore, limited real-time access to quality data hindered swift decision-making and posed challenges in meeting regulatory standards.

Forresters needed a comprehensive Quality Management System (QMS) that could automate quality workflows, provide real-time data, and integrate with their ERP system for seamless traceability and compliance tracking. Forresters had been operating an Emydex factory floor MES (Manufacturing Execution System) for production control, yield management and traceability reporting for many years, so it was a straightforward decision to extend our Emydex software footprint to include all of our Quality, Compliance and Food Safety Management processes.

What We Did

Working closely with Forrester’s management, our team worked with Emydex to develop and implement a customised QMS solution that aligned with Forrester's operational goals. The implementation process was structured in two main phases:

1. Phase One - Digitalising Quality Checks
Forresters began by introducing automated digital checklists across the production floor, replacing paper logs and allowing quality checks to be completed via tablets at each workstation. Data is now collected on tablets running the Emydex Quality system in real-time, and any deviations from standards trigger instant alerts, allowing issues to be addressed immediately.

2. Phase Two - Comprehensive Quality Dashboard
In the next phase, Forresters deployed an Emydex quality system dashboard for management and supervisors, providing a centralised view of quality metrics across production. The dashboard consolidates data on batch compliance, audit trails, incident reporting, and corrective actions. Fully integrated with Forrester's ERP system, it links directly to purchasing and inventory data, ensuring traceability from raw materials to finished products.

3. Automated Audit and Compliance Reporting
A key feature of the Emydex EQMS is its automated compliance reporting. The system generates real-time, auditable compliance reports accessible from any device, dramatically reducing the time required for internal and external audits. Issues are flagged and assigned for resolution, enhancing accountability across departments.

The Results

Since implementing the Emydex Quality Management system, Forresters has significantly improved operational efficiency and quality compliance.

Enhanced Accuracy and Reduced Human Error: Automated digital checklists have replaced manual entries, reduced errors and ensured consistency in quality checks across all lines.

Real-Time Quality Insights: Managers and supervisors can now view quality metrics instantly, enabling quick decision-making and proactive quality control.

Efficient Compliance Audits: Compliance reporting, which previously required days of preparation, is now generated instantly by Emydex, saving time and resources. Audit readiness has also improved, as records are automatically archived and easily accessible.

Improved Traceability: The QMS enables complete traceability from raw material intake to finished product distribution, facilitating stock rotation and maintaining quality at every stage.

Feedback from Key Stakeholders

Dwayne Chin, Head of Technical at Forresters, noted, “The Emydex QMS has been transformative for our business. Our team no longer spends hours sorting through paper logs; we can spot and address issues immediately. Compliance reporting that once took days is now ready in minutes, giving us more control over quality and peace of mind.”

John Acornley, Finance Director, added, “With the Emydex Quality system in place, Forresters have significantly reduced errors and improved our response times. The Emydex automated alerts keep our team informed, and the dashboard makes it easy to stay on top of production quality. It’s been a huge upgrade.”

Summary

The Emydex Quality Management System implemented at Forresters has streamlined operations and reinforced its commitment to delivering high-quality products to its clients. By enhancing workflows, improving traceability, and enabling instant access to quality data, the QMS has empowered Forresters to meet regulatory standards and confidently scale its operations.

Don't wait! Embrace the future of quality management with Emydex's Electronic Quality Management Software (EQMS).

If you want to learn more – contact Emydex in any of our global market offices in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or North America

Request a Demo

Dawn Pork & Bacon, 17 years on Emydex and counting

Dawn Pork & Bacon is one of Ireland’s leading Pork producers, operating out of Grannagh, Co Waterford in Ireland. May 2023 will see the 17th year Anniversary since Emydex first started working with Dawn Pork & Bacon, in 2006.

Emydex was founded in April 2004, so Dawn P&B was one of the very first customers to go live with an Emydex software system to manage, control and report on all their production, stocks, yields, and traceability requirements.

Continuous Improvements

Initially launched on Emydex Version 3 of the application, the system has been upgraded on a number of occasions to keep the software solution in check with the latest technical developments released by Emydex in both the core system, as well as the various industry modules in use. Industry modules operated by Dawn P&B cover their entire factory floor processes, door-to-door including pig kill line and payments, carcass stock management, into-boning, boning hall management, box packing and palletizing, sales order picking, and dispatch.

In 2009 the system was extended to add an Emydex weighbridge system for Dawn to manage truck deliveries to the plant used to verify dispatch weights against weights at the bridge, eliminating potentially costly mistakes.

24/7 Support

Alan Doocey, Dawn Pork & Bacon’s IT Manager at the time later relocated with his family to Australia, eventually ending up working for Emydex Australia, where he still works today on the Emydex Australia customer support team. Alan provides real-time technical helpdesk support to Emydex customers in Australia and New Zealand, as well as other Emydex customers around the globe who signed up to a 24x7x365 support agreement. The 24x7 team is made up of support engineers like Alan in Brisbane, in addition, to support staff in New Zealand, Canada, and Dublin.

Commenting on the successful working relationship between both companies over such a long tenure, Billy Leslie, Financial controller with Dawn Pork & Bacon said

We in Dawn Pork & Bacon are delighted to celebrate a very successful partnership of 17 years with Emydex in 2023. The Emydex suite of software plays an integral part in the day-to-day running of our business. The system is very user-friendly allowing production staff to fully engage with it. As a result, the information the system produces is extremely reliable enabling us to maintain tight control of our yields, stock management, and our supply chain.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Emydex in the future. A future that will include increased regulatory control and sustainability reporting challenges within the Agri-Business sector. In partnership with Emydex, we are confident that these challenges can be overcome.

If you want to learn more – contact our Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or North American offices

Request a Demo

Farmer Bookings & Feedback via Livestock Portal

Farmer Bookings & Feedback via Livestock Portal

A new web-based appointment booking and feedback system, reduces paperwork, facilitates easier appointments, and provides transparent feedback to producers and farmers in real-time and accurately

Feb 2022

The supply of livestock from the producer to the meat processor is underpinned by the consistent supply of livestock of the correct quality, correct inspection and optimal grading of these animals while processing in meat processing factories. This is applicable to Beef, Lamb and Pork/hog producers and processors. 

This relationship can now also be built-upon and strengthened with the use of a transparent data transfer from the processor back to the producers via a new Emdyex web-based appointment booking and feedback system. This is achieved via Emydex standard APIs that interact directly with Emydex factory floor MES Solutions running on Kill lines in Abattoirs and Slaughterhouses around the world. 

 

Animal Health Feedback 

Farmers could have the ability to make bookings and appointments, receive Health feedback information, download their financial information, as well as receive their remittances digitally through the Portal, reducing unnecessary paper documentation and helping both sides work towards their sustainability goals.

To facilitate the seamless exchange of producer/Processor data, Emydex has developed a comprehensive suite of secure web APIs. These are designed to simplify the livestock supply from producer to processor and offer the ability to surface kill line and grade data about the supplied livestock back to the producer.

 

Farmer Appointments & Bookings

Authorised agents and suppliers can book appointments to supply their livestock to the processor directly using the API calls embedded in a web portal which can be run via a web browser on a desktop PC or mobile device. This makes the process of selling livestock to the processor far simpler than initiating a booking via other means, eliminating double handling of data and reducing the opportunity for errors in the process.

The Emydex Supplier WebAPI Module consists of several API endpoints that can be called to perform various operations, such as registering new suppliers and livestock delivery appointments directly within Emydex, providing details of any generated payments and retrieving relevant data collected on the Emydex kill line. 

 

Visibility of Grading & Quality Data

This can include the data from the Emydex veterinary inspection stations, grading data and if applicable data from chiller grading processes (MSA). The data retrieval from the kill line via the APIs can be performed at a per delivery or lot level or down to the individual sides of the carcasses forming part of a particular delivery or lot. This offers much greater visibility of the grading and quality data registered to each carcass by the processor and provides comprehensive feedback to the supplier on the condition of the livestock supplied to the factory. How each carcass was graded informs how each carcass was ultimately priced for payment. This can assist the supplier in improving the quality of supplied livestock to meet the producers’ requirements.

By combining the Emydex Kill Line, Central Animal Payments System and Livestock API modules in one wholistic solution, Beef, Lamb and Pork livestock suppliers and processors can achieve a higher level of digital integration when considering the supply of animals to the plant and also receiving performance feedback on the quality of supply and pricing calculations applied to the delivery.

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Emydex CAPS off year with Livestock Payments System

Emydex CAPS off the year with a new Livestock Settlements System

For most Meat processors, the procurement of raw materials, especially Livestock, is by far the largest variable cost for the business to manage. Therefore, being able to ensure the Accurate andTimely payment for this stock is a key requirement. Many Meatprocessors choose to differentiate themselves from their competitors based on the speed and accuracy of payment to their suppliers. Emydex’s recently redeveloped Central Animal Payment System (CAPS) is designed to meet this requirement specifically, as well as to provide functionality that provides parameter-driven flexibility to meet all current and future requirements.

 

Calculating Animal Settlements

The key to the success of the system is the ability to design animal payment ‘methods’ that can be added to the system as a component to suit individual customer needs without modifying the existing system. This means that if there is a requirement for a new way of paying a supplier, whether it be based on a contract, supply volumes, average market process, or a complex grid-based system, these can be developed and ‘locked in’ to the existing system as a snapshot for later retrieval.

As standard, the Animal Payment System caters to multiple payment grids where any data from the kill floor or kill ‘lot’ (delivery) can be incorporated into multiple axes of a grid to generate a payment.

This might be a weight range and fat score or a meat marbling score and dentition range i.e. virtually any combination of data elements that can be measured as part of livestock processing.

Multiple grids can be used to accumulate values such as a supplementary ‘bonus’ value or to allow a record to pass to a second grid if the criteria for the first grid e.g. a carcass that is too heavy or old for the first payment grid. This ‘fall through’ process can be repeated until a grid that matches is finally found.

 

Cattle Payment Invoicing and Adjustments

The system is capable of producing recipient-created tax invoices (RCTI) for suppliers (farmers), third-party agents, commissioned livestock buyers, transport companies and service or contract kills (an accounts receivable transaction rather than the usual accounts payable).

User-defined adjustments, again using virtually any of the data in the system, can apply adjustments to this invoice to either deduct money for items such as carcass faults, levies, transport costs etc. or apply a rebate such as a ‘skin’ or hide credit. These can be applied automatically using pre-defined ‘settlement schemes’ (groups of adjustments) or added manually on a case-by-case basis.

 

Carcass Costings

As a carcass is produced, the system can calculate the cost for the carcass per kg (or lb) by running each carcass record through the various livestock settlement processes to generate the total cost, so not only is the cost of the purchase from the supplier included but also the cost of freight, commissions etc.

Costs that do not appear on any invoice such as a kill fee can also be included if required. This allows for carcasses to be costed before the payment is finalised so if the carcass is disposed of via a sale or boning process, the cost can be reported as part of the input to the process for accurate costings. Alternatively, carcass costs can be updated once the payment is finalised.

 

Animal Payment Reporting

Invoice and costing data can be updated to an in-house or 3rd party provider ERP or Financial system for payment with full audit trails and costing audits available in the CAPS system. Standard reports are available and data from the payment system can be surfaced using the in-built Emydex Business Intelligence (BI) tool.

Kill data can be from Emydex kill floor systems or up-uploaded from multiple sources and sites to allow for a centralized system for consolidated processing and reporting.

 

Centralised Payments catering for large Enterprises

Given the flexibility and extensibility of the system, current and future needs can easily be met with an ‘out of the box’ system. Once configured the system can generate payments, email all parties involved and update costs and financial systems at the push of a button. Payment processes that would traditionally take hours can be streamlined and the labour requirements significantly reduced.

Accurate costings allow for true profitability costing as the input costs to sales and further processing are readily available.

With the ability to run as a centralised process taking data from many sources, both large enterprises to single site operations can all gain tremendous advantages from the new system.

 

If you want to learn more – contact Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or North America offices.

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