Tyson group vice president of consumer products John Lea thinks fixed-weight packaging is the future of case-ready. At Tyson they prefer the term “net weight” to “fixed weight,” but either way it refers to the practice of making sure that random-weight packs differing by a few ounces are eliminated.
Introduced by Tyson in early 2003, fixed- weight packaging for poultry is a paradigm shift away from random- weight packaging and an affixed label. For consumers, it means package-to-package and store-to-store-consistency, Lea says. For Tyson and its customers like Wal-Mart, the scannable, bar-coded packs represent enormous potential. Shipment assortments can be tailored to the specific demographics of the individual store’s customers.
“This will be the way fresh [case-ready] products will be sold going forward,” says Lea. “We are already seeing products in net-weight packages, including a good amount of ground beef. I believe that most case-ready products in the future—if not all—will be sold in this net-weight format.”
For more of our interview with Tyson's John Lea, see: packworld.com/go/w073
See the story that goes with this sidebar: A case-ready meat tour
