John Dee's planned expansion

Australia's oldest single-family owned meat processor, John Dee, has commenced the implementation of the Dematic Multishuttle Meat Buffer Storage and Handling System at its Queensland abattoir in Warwick to meet growth in customer demand and streamline operations in sub-zero conditions.

With the help of project partner Wiley, John Dee is implementing the Dematic automated solution to optimise facility operations and provide better workplace safety by overcoming the challenges associated with working in harsh temperatures. The solution is purpose-designed to enable John Dee to scale up and increase its premium beef export marketshare.

"The Warwick facility supplies thousands of varieties of beef cuts to more than 145 customers in over 37 export markets, and those numbers are only growing," says John Hart, owner of John Dee. "Our recent expansion of our Warwick facility is the largest single investment in the company's 80-year history and supports our business growth and competitiveness during a time when beef exports are rising significantly."

Based on Dematic's Multishuttle Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS), the solution has been deployed by meat processors in refrigerated environments around the globe. It provides companies like John Dee with a range of advantages over post-production manual distribution and despatch, with multiple aisles accommodating for both chilled and frozen environments with the flexibility to cater for any future temperature changes required by different markets.

"In selecting Dematic for this project, we were able to ensure that we were working with a system that was able to adapt and cater for the future growth of John Dee, with the ability to increase productivity to match significant surges in demand, whilst also providing improved worker safety," says Rob Barron, Wiley CEO.