The splitting saw is a critical piece of equipment in the pig slaughtering process, used to precisely divide a whole pig carcass—after the removal of the head, hooves, tail, and internal organs—into left and right halves along the midline of the spine.
This operation is essential for facilitating subsequent steps such as aging, grading, cutting, refrigeration, and sales.
Achieving an even split ensures compliance with international trade and domestic grading standards, including USDA, EU, and GB regulations. By splitting the carcass in half, the thickness is effectively reduced while the surface area is significantly increased.
This promotes better cold air penetration, accelerates the cooling process, saves energy, and supports the aging process—ultimately enhancing meat quality. Furthermore, it provides standardized half-carcass inputs for downstream processes such as three- or four-part cutting, deboning, and trimming, thereby improving overall production line efficiency.
The introduction of the Robotic Automatic Pig Carcass Splitting Machine marks a significant advancement over traditional methods. It replaces manual axe splitting with a mechanized, precise, and highly efficient operation, while also ensuring greater operational safety. In contrast, the traditional handheld splitting saw—operated by workers using electric or pneumatic tools to split along the spine—offers flexibility and lower initial investment, making it suitable for small to medium-sized slaughterhouses or as a backup device.
However, it comes with notable drawbacks: high skill requirements, intense physical labor, difficulty in maintaining hygiene, increased risk of cross-contamination, and relatively poor splitting precision and consistency.
The adoption of the Robotic Automatic Pig Carcass Splitting Machine addresses these challenges head-on, driving the slaughtering process toward greater intelligence, standardization, and efficiency.