In La Carlota, which is Spain’s Córdoba region, the Aviserrano Group is building a brand new, sustainable, and efficient processing plant set to be operational in 2026. Owner and CEO Alfonso Serrano, and Technical Director Moises Montero discuss the journey towards together with the expectations linked to this greenfield project.
The 30,000 m2 facility will be built on a 102,000 m2 industrial site. The state-of-the-art plant will feature the latest JBT Marel technology to ensure efficient and sustainable production. The facility will include a turkey processing line with a capacity of 2,500 tph and a broiler line with a capacity of 10,500 bph. The building is designed to allow for easy expansion to 15,000 bph.
The broiler line at the La Carlota processing plant is fully packed with JBT Marel systems. It starts with the ATLAS live bird handling system and CAS SmoothFlow for stunning. At the shackling station, the Sigma overhead conveyor begins its path through all stages, scalding, plucking and electrostimulation. Early in the process, even before removing feathers, the SmartWeigher DF weighs the chickens to track them right from the start.
The Nuova-i stands out as the centerpiece of the evisceration line, working together with the JBT Marel Vent Cutter, the Opening Machine and the back-end machines. Aviserrano has also specified a comprehensive JBT Marel vacuum system for feathers, offal and by-products.
The air chilling tunnel in La Carlota has been designed to allow for the future expansion of the inline DownFlow+ system. In the same cold room, giblets on conveyor belts are chilled. After chilling, the selection line uses SmartWeigher and IRIS weighing and grading systems along with JBT Marel PDS distribution software to sort products for either cut-up or whole griller packing.
The ACM-NT cut-up line includes JBT Marel's latest technologies such as the WingMaster anatomic midwing module and the ALPINE anatomic leg processor followed by the Thigh Fillet System. The breast caps are steered to two AMF-i deboning systems. Each filleting line, whether for thighs, tenderloins or breast fillets, is equipped with a SensorX bone detection system.
We chose JBT Marel for their extensive experience, and their solutions to form 100% of the production line.
Moises Montero
Technical Director Aviserrano Group
The turkey evisceration line to be installed in the La Carlota building also includes all JBT Marel systems, such as the opening machine, the neck cracker and the final inspection machine. New systems in the turkey line are a selection line with SmartWeigher and the world’s first redesigned ACM-T cut-up line for turkeys.
Technical Director Moises Montero says, “We have known JBT Marel right from the very start of our company. Since our first greenfield plans in 2021, we chose JBT Marel to equip the plant because of their strong development capacity, long experience, and the ability to deliver complete production lines. Whenever we had new ideas or improvements, the JBT Marel team has been very helpful. They offer good technological solutions, such as the Nuova-i. We have high expectations of the performance of this eviscerator. We are yet to start working with these new solutions, but the ATLAS live bird handling system and the CAS SmoothFlow stunning system look very promising. In fact, we are also installing an ATLAS system at our existing plant in Purullena, where most of the other equipment is JBT Marel’s too.”
Owner Alfonso Serrano adds, “Topics like animal well-being, sustainability, water, and energy are constant challenges, driven by changing regulations. At Aviserrano, animal well-being and sustainability are not extra efforts but essential, integral parts of the company. In Spain, labor is becoming harder to secure, with less quality, skills, and commitment to the work. This increases the need for automation, which is the right choice when the investment is justified without complicating processes.”
Alfonso Serrano concludes, “Our home market accounts for the largest share. In Spain, people are very fond of chicken meat due to its price and nutritional benefits. While consumption is growing, we see buyers’ habits change continuously, because we serve different population segments. Increasingly various recipes are featuring in restaurant menus. Currently, we have a highly diversified customer base from retailers and wholesalers to large supermarket chains with a particularly important role for Mercadona. We are in the process of expanding into HORECA. To meet market demand, we process different chicken types and both male and female turkeys into meat in all forms: whole, cut, further processed, fresh, and frozen.”
Animal well-being and sustainability are not seen as an extra effort, but as something necessary and essential.
Alfonso Serrano
Owner / CEO Aviserrano Group
Aviserrano was born out of the union of Avinatur, Jovi Serrano, and Paviso Alimentación. Now, Grupo Aviserrano is a vertically integrated organization with Alfonso Serrano as CEO, aiming to be a reference in the food industry. Grupo Aviserrano consists of the main headquarters Paviso Alimentación (Seville), processing plant Joviserrano (Valencia), various production plants like Avinatur Producciones Avícolas (Granada), and logistics company Logialcor (Seville). Aviserrano has its own commercial brand under the name Naturavia.
With the new project, Aviserrano's turnover is expected to exceed 1,000 million euros by 2030, consolidating its position as one of the leaders in the sector.
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