Poultry shackle milestone

摘要

At the end of 2020 Marel's manufacturing site in Dongen released its 3,000,000th poultry processing shackle since production began in 1987. A shackle may seem a simple metal hook, but in fact it is a truly essential component in the poultry industry. A shackle in an overhead conveyor is like a freight car on a railroad, responsible for the safe transportation of products from one point to another. It is a cleverly designed construction, fit to hold the legs of all thinkable chicken species and sizes around the world. For Marel, Stork at the time, Hugo van den Elshout took up the job to construct the shackles in 1987. Back then, the production was mostly done manually on an anvil, like in a blacksmith shop. That process has evolved significantly in the last three decades. Today, advanced machinery, including a hydraulic press, a bending machine and a welding robot, is used to produce shackles.