Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 40
1 Therefore, it has to be said that the flow and the layout
2 of the buildings is not ideal. That said, my general
3 observation is, within the framework of what they have got
4 and the physical limitations of the site, they have done as
5 best they can. Some of the aspects were extremely good;
6 there is no doubt about that.
7
8 The reception area for live birds was relatively new,
9 particularly impressive. A lot of technology there, a lot
10 of space, a lot of control, and something of a model for
11 the way you would expect to see that section of the
12 operation run.
13
14 The main processing area, old buildings. I think they are
15 World War II buildings, so they are not ideal but, as
16 I said, within the framework of what they have to deal
17 with, they are reasonably well decorated, in reasonably
18 good repair and tolerably clean. Going through into the
19 burgers or the McNuggets site -----
20
21 Q. Sorry, you had some reservations about something at Sun
22 Valley; is that correct?
23 A. Yes, there were a few -- I mean, of the scale of this
24 operation there is always a few problems. One I noted
25 which immediately springs to mind was a conflict between
26 health & safety and temperature control which was quite
27 interesting, that some of the process machinery was caged
28 off to prevent people coming into contact with them which
29 meant an area of process was completely inaccessible while
30 the machinery was running, which meant that any birds which
31 actually fell off the processing line (and a number do --
32 I saw a number there) are left to accumulate for a time
33 until they can either stop the run or permit engineers to
34 access.
35
36 Q. Were those live birds?
37 A. No, sorry, we are talking about dead birds, I think it
38 is post evisceration, so it means we have a number of birds
39 sitting there for some time at ambient temperature which is
40 not ideal. Surely, it is a small number of birds in
41 relation to the whole, and I spoke to Dr. Pattison about it
42 at the time. I pointed it out to him and he explained to
43 me what the problem was, this conflict between health &
44 safety and keeping the flow of birds going. That is the
45 sort of thing I mean by minor reservations, but the global
46 picture is within the constraints of the building design
47 layout; they do it perhaps as best they could for that type
48 of plant.
49
50 Except, of course, for the McNuggets, which I understood to
51 have started off its life or originally been intended as a
52 warehouse, and had been stripped out at very, very short
53 notice and set up as specifically as a McNugget plant,
54 I found impressive, a very good standard of finish, very
55 good standard of equipment, good layout and some innovative
56 controls, very live wire, active management, and an
57 extremely good line flow, to a greater or lesser extent
58 virtually model operation for its type.
59
60 The overall, though, one has to acknowledge (and this is
