Tyson Foods Inc. plans to expand the use of computer vision to track how much chicken moves through its plants, part of an effort to invest more in automation and artificial intelligence to cut costs and reduce waste.

By the end of the year, the company expects to use cameras, machine-learning algorithms and edge computing—where data is processed and analyzed in near-real time without being sent to a data center—to record hundreds of thousands of pounds of packaged chicken every week.

The company has installed the systems at three facilities and plans to expand them to all seven of its “fresh tray pack” chicken plants, which churn out meat packaged for supermarket cases. Tyson has about 50 facilities in the U.S. that process chicken.

Tracking chicken inventory was traditionally a manual process where workers looked at meat wheeled in on carts, used hand signals to communicate information about the product to other workers, and entered data into a system. That process wasn’t always accurate. Incorrect counts could result in too much chicken being processed, meaning it could spoil, or an undersupply of chicken. Both problems could cost the company money.

“We’re trying to apply the most cutting-edge technology in order to derive new insights and enable new ways to work,” said Lee Slezak, vice president of IT architecture, emerging technologies and analytics at the Springdale, Ark.-based company.

The technology will allow Tyson to better control its inventory and manage the freshness of its chicken, said Mr. Slezak, who reports to Scott Spradley, Tyson’s chief technology officer. The move could result in some reductions in the number of workers, though that isn’t the main goal, Mr. Slezak said.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.wsj.com