Integrated planning for poultry production at Sadia

Sadia Concórdia SA, the largest poultry producer in Brazil, processing over 300 million chickens and 11 million turkeys a year, has increasingly used mathematical models since 1990 to improve decision making throughout its production chain. It has saved more than $50 million over a three-year period, as a result of (1) better conversion of feed to live bird weight; (2) improved utilization of birds to produce more than 300 products classified by weight range, taking into account weight variations between and within flocks; (3) almost 100 percent fulfillment of daily production plans with increased output of higher value products; (4) greater flexibility and reduced lead time in meeting market demand; and (5) timely and wide ranging studies of different price and demand scenarios. This original and pioneering use of operations research and management science approaches in the poultry industry is also adaptable to diverse production practices and applicable to other animal-processing industries.