How Tomahawk Helped a Leading Poultry Processor Launch New Chicken Nugget Products Faster
Customer Challenge: Bringing New Chicken Nugget Shapes to Market Quickly
A leading U.S. poultry processor producing a wide variety of chicken nuggets for both retail and foodservice markets wanted to accelerate the development of new, seasonally themed, and specialty-shaped nugget products.
Many of these products are made from a standard nugget formulation consisting of finely ground chicken trim, emulsified skin, spices, and other ingredients. While the processor had established production capabilities, the speed required to develop and launch new products was becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.
Tomahawk Manufacturing partnered with the processor to develop the most efficient tooling plate, fill system, and breather system configuration to support their product development goals.
Existing Forming Equipment and Production Setup
The processor operates multiple 400 mm forming systems across its facilities, including:
- Pump-fed rotary formers
- Slide plate forming systems
While capable of producing high-quality products, the existing tooling development process created challenges when introducing new nugget shapes and limited-run products.
The Problem: Long Tooling Lead Times Delayed Product Innovation
The processor wanted the flexibility to introduce short-run promotional products, seasonal items, and “fun-shaped” nuggets throughout the year.
However, traditional tooling development for rotary forming systems involved significant cost and lead times. In addition, the processor’s existing tooling supplier for its 400 mm slide plate former was unable to provide the responsiveness needed to keep pace with product development demands.
As a result, new product launches were often slowed by tooling availability rather than market opportunity.
Tomahawk’s Solution: A Universal Tooling System for Faster Product Development
Tomahawk designed a universal tooling solution that allowed a common fill and breather assembly to be used across multiple mold plate designs.
This innovative approach provided several advantages:
- Reduced tooling development complexity
- Minimized changeover requirements
- Increased flexibility for new product designs
- Faster production readiness for specialty-shaped products
Because the fill and breather components remained consistent, Tomahawk could rapidly design and manufacture new themed mold plate sets without requiring a complete tooling redesign.
Results: New Themed Poultry Products Delivered in Less Than Two Weeks
With Tomahawk’s universal tooling design, the processor significantly reduced development lead times.
Key Outcomes
- New specialty-shaped nugget tooling delivered in less than 2 weeks
- Previous supplier lead times reduced from 4-6 weeks
- Faster introduction of seasonal and promotional products
- Lower product development costs
- Improved responsiveness to customer and consumer demand
The processor now produces specially themed products on a monthly basis, strengthening its market position and creating additional sales opportunities throughout the year.
Business Impact: Increased Profitability Through Faster Innovation
By reducing tooling development costs and dramatically shortening lead times, the processor gained the ability to react more quickly to market trends and customer requests.
The result is a more agile product development process that supports regular product innovation while improving overall profitability.
Why Poultry Processors Partner with Tomahawk
Tomahawk Manufacturing and Tomahawk BV help poultry processors of all sizes overcome production challenges and bring new products to market faster.
Whether the solution requires:
- Custom tooling
- Service and technical support
- New forming equipment
- Operator training
- Process optimization
Tomahawk’s guiding principle of Listen. Improve. Serve. helps processors develop practical solutions that improve efficiency, support growth, and drive profitability.
