President of Aurora Alimentos, Mário Lanznaster, told this site he wanted to increase the volume of slaughtered product by 30% within the next four years, creating 2,080 local jobs in the process.
“Our plan is to greatly improve the volume of slaughtered product,” said Lanznaster.
“We are trying to improve our production by 30% within the next four years. We will not open new plants, but improve efficiency at the factories we currently have producing meat here in Brazil.”
Aurora intends to enhance production the old-fashioned way: working more hours. The plan is to increase the number of factory shifts from two to three, which will allow production to continue for an extra two hours every day.
Meat processing staff at Aurora work six-hour shifts, either morning or late afternoon. Adding a third shift to the mix will allow the company to keep production running non-stop for 18 hours per day. This means Aurora will be able to produce more meat for the domestic market, responsible for 75% of its revenue, and exports, which contribute the remaining 25%.
The roughly 2,080 jobs will be spread across Aurora’s seven pork slaughterhouses, which are located in the southern states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
Unemployment in Brazil currently stands at around 12% and Lanznaster said it was “excellent” that his company, one of the country’s biggest meat processors, was able create new jobs that should in turn boost Brazil’s weak economy.
Pork and poultry processor Aurora is also the only company in Brazil licensed to export pork to US and ships thousands of tonnes to the country every year. The company also hopes to start selling meat to South Korea for the first time ever this year, which forms part of the company’s strategy to increase revenue accrued from exports.
With a big recruitment drive underway, Aurora is also hopeful domestic pork demand can increase from the average consumption rate of just 13 kilograms per person. But planning to increase pork production by 30% in the next four years certainly shows the company is confident demand will rise as more product hits the market.