Bindaree Beef Group Collaborative Innovation Strategy Partnership Program

Summary

In 2016, Bindaree Beef Group (BBG) partnered with MLA on a Collaborative Innovation Strategy Partnership (CISP) program to support the development of BBG's high-value growth strategies.

As part of the CISP program, BBG investigated and engaged in several innovative initiatives across the value chain, including livestock production, processing efficiency, sales and marketing.

Throughout the course of the CISP, MLA co-funded six industry-wide, innovative projects with BBG. The outcomes of these projects were implemented by the BBG Innovation Manager, along with several other initiatives that BBG identified as being beneficial to their company.

Objectives

The main objective of this project was for BBG to develop and implement an innovation strategy with specific focus on:

• investigating how environmental sustainability could be improved
• reviewing the marketing strategy and identifying new opportunities
• designing and building new business systems and models
• developing supply chain innovation in areas as such as eating quality, information management and supply chain assurance.

Key findings

MLA co-funded projects established throughout the BBG CISP included:

• Bindaree Beef Value Chain Mapping research
• IFFA Technology Exhibition Study Program and Global IP Scanning
• Young Food Innovator Program
• Grain Fed Friesian Steer Program
• Research and feasibility study into design and technical requirements for a value chain interactive platform.

In addition to these MLA co-funded projects, the BBG Innovation Manager developed business cases for several BBG-funded capital expenditure projects that improved productivity and waste reduction. These projects included:

• implementing BladeStop bandsaws in the boning room
• incorporating spray chilling into processing to increase carcase yield, which was cashflow-positive within 12 months and is currently returning more than 1.5% improved red meat yield
• optimising Meat Standards Australia grading standards to better meet market requirements
• automating knife sharpening and objective measurement of manual knife sharpening
• using chilled offal recovery instead of frozen
• using impingement freezing as an alternative to the CO2 chill-down process.

Benefits to industry

The CISP program has delivered several benefits to industry, including:

• increased innovation, research, development and adoption within several red meat organisations
• increased performance, culture, capability and collaboration within organisations across the supply chain
• elevated productivity and profitability within the industry through accelerated adoption.

MLA action

Due to the success of the BBG CISP, MLA will continue to evolve the program to help other organisations within the Australian red meat industry. These partnerships will meet current and future challenges by adopting strategies and capability for innovation to enable companies to grow and remain competitive within the global market.

Future research

• BBG will continue to look for options to diversify the productivity of its Burleigh Heads retailing processing facility. This will provide more opportunities for innovation in new product development and processing methods.
• The BBG livestock team has been working with MLA to investigate innovative solutions to automate feed delivery systems to improve livestock performance and animal health.