[Finding Answers Through Technology at Livestock Sites in Crisis] “Constantly anxious the chain suspending cattle might snap”… Can robots become the relief pitcher for slaughterhouses suffering from labor shortages and trauma?

Slaughterhouses, which are responsible for supplying the protein source on South Korean dining tables, are fighting a desperate battle amid an aging workforce, labor shortages, and the ever-present risk of safety accidents that could happen at any time. Because the work involves handling heavy, massive, irregular living bodies, workers on site complain daily of musculoskeletal disorders and psychological trauma. At slaughterhouses that have become the No. 1 job young people avoid, to the point that even operating the plants is difficult without foreign workers, artificial intelligence(AI) and robot technology are now emerging as the only breakthrough for survival.

“Every day is a struggle”…Workers bruised by the recoil of powder-fired guns and the fear of falling carcasses
At the NongHyup Economic Holdings Eumseong Livestock Products Auction Center, which handles 1/6 of the nation’s cattle slaughter volume, each day is a continuous stretch of tension. That is because dealing with enormous cattle weighing several hundredkg inherently involves danger.

The most dangerous process is the ‘stunning(rendering unconscious) process’ for cattle. Currently, workers on site use powder-fired guns to strike the cattle. Because of the powerful noise produced when the powder explodes and the shock transmitted directly to the body, workers live with chronic ear ailments and musculoskeletal disorders as though they were their fate. Moreover, when Korean native cattle worth nearly 10 million won feel threatened and struggle, shaking their heads, it can easily lead to fatal accidents.

Mental stress is also reaching the extreme. According to an official at the NongHyup Eumseong Livestock Products Auction Center, countless employees are constantly on edge with the fear that the metal chain used to suspend and move carcasses weighing hundreds of kilograms might snap and the cattle might fall on top of workers. The health and safety environment on site is in urgent need of improvement, to the extent that NongHyup recently replaced the chains entirely with marine crane chains capable of withstanding a total of 24 tons and invited counselors from a public health center to provide psychological counseling and trauma treatment.

The situation is no different in the ‘carcass bisection process’ that cuts a cow’s spine in half. Because workers must directly cut the bone while holding a huge manual saw blade, it is a high-risk task that can lead to major cutting accidents with a single mistake.

The trap of chronic hiring difficulties and ‘aging’… A situation where they may have to shut down without technology
Such horrific working conditions have ultimately led to chronic labor shortages. As the inflow of young Korean workers has completely dried up, more than 60 slaughterhouses across the country are suffering the double burden of severe hiring difficulties and an aging workforce. The retirement of skilled veterans is approaching, but finding people to succeed them is nearly impossible. That is why the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs last year newly created the slaughter worker occupation under the ‘Skilled Foreign Worker(E-7-3) visa’ so slaughterhouses could hire skilled foreign labor.

Park Won-seok, executive director at slaughter robot specialist (Co.) Robos, said, “Compared with the share livestock farming occupies in GDP and other indicators, the domestic slaughter environment is generally small-scale and harsh, making it the field where labor replacement is most urgently needed”, adding, “In the past, the goal was to reduce labor costs, but now automation has become essential to resolve bottlenecks where entire processes are paralyzed because people cannot be hired even if more money is offered”, conveying the mood on the ground.

According to Robos, in the case of the large-scale facility at Busan-Kyungnam NongHyup, the introduction of slaughter robots resolved bottleneck processes by increasing hourly throughput from fewer than 300 head to 650 head, more than doubling capacity. This shows that unless processes people avoid are replaced with robots, it is impossible not only to build a smart factory but even to maintain current slaughter capacity(processing capability) right now.

“Introducing robots is not simply about cutting costs, but the beginning of respecting labor on site”
In this situation, the AI  stunning robots(2 units) and carcass bisection robot(1 unit) being introduced at the NongHyup Eumseong Livestock Products Auction Center through a project led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agriculture Technology Promotion Agency are drawing expectations as relief pitchers that could change the paradigm of the livestock industry.

The stunning robot, which fires a hydraulic pin, completely replaces powder-fired guns, eliminating noise and bodily shock, and after the machine fixes the cow’s neck in place, it strikes the exact center with a laser, fundamentally isolating workers from danger. The carcass bisection robot also uses sensors to precisely mark six points along the back and automatically separate the carcass, making it possible to reduce the risk of saw-blade accidents to zero. With this robot introduction, the NongHyup Eumseong Livestock Products Auction Center has been relieved of the burden of deploying 3 workers in high-risk roles.

Livestock technology experts agree that slaughterhouse automation should not be interpreted merely as a tool for improving productivity or reducing costs.

Lee Seung-beom, deputy head of the NongHyup Eumseong Livestock Products Auction Center, said, “At a time when hiring slaughterhouse workers is becoming more difficult by the day, the key is to replace with robots the processes that people find the hardest and most frightening first”, adding, “If robots take on the dangerous and rough work, on-site staff can reduce fatigue and focus on more detailed and precise carcass quality control. Ultimately, the working environment must become safer for employees’ trauma to disappear, and that will create a virtuous cycle in which the quality of domestic livestock products and the prices received by farmers also rise together”, emphasizing the point.

Amid the difficult challenge of handling irregular living bodies, expectations are rising on site over whether the first step of AI  slaughter robots, intended to wipe away the sweat and tears of workers in the field, can illuminate a sustainable tomorrow for South Korea’s livestock industry.