From 40,000 to 190,000 Birds per Day: How Avisabor Digitised Its Entire Operation with BRAINR

Avisabor is a large-scale Portuguese poultry slaughterhouse supplying major retailers across Portugal and Spain. After replacing paper records, spreadsheets, and disconnected legacy systems with BRAINR, the company digitised 100% of operations in 4 months and reduced average warehouse storage time by 50%.

• 4 months to full digitisation
• 100+ users trained
• 100+ devices connected
• 50% reduction in average warehouse storage time

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The Challenge

Avisabor is one of the more complex operations in poultry processing. Fully automated lines running without human intervention sit side by side with traditional lines that still depend heavily on manual labour.The company supplies retailers across Portugal and Spain, which means high production volumes, extremely tight delivery deadlines, and demanding quality standards every single day.

Before BRAINR, factory management relied on paper records, multiple Excel sheets, and several legacy software systems that did not communicate with each other. Machines had virtually no integration with management software. Data lived in different places and reached decision-makers too late to act on.

At this scale, the consequences are significant. Managing raw material intake, production sequencing, shipping, and stock without a single source of truth means errors accumulate. For a company supplying retail chains that require full traceability and zero-error deliveries, this was becoming unsustainable.

The pressure was compounded by rapid growth. Avisabor had been expanding its operations while facing increasing difficulty finding and retaining the human resources needed to manage the added complexity. The margin for manual error was shrinking. Something had to change.

The Trigger

Avisabor had already begun modernising its corporate systems and knew the factory floor had to follow. The pressure from retail customers was clear: manual processes could not guarantee the traceability and error-free delivery that major chains demanded.

The specific challenge was finding a system capable of two things at once. On automated lines, it needed to collect operational data at scale without requiring human input. On less automated lines, it needed to give shop floor operators interfaces simple and intuitive enough to log information correctly, every time, without slowing production.

BRAINR was built precisely for this combination.

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The Implementation

Start date: November 2020

End date: March 2021

Duration: 4 months

Team: 2 implementation specialists

Modules implemented in sequence: Gatehouse, Reception, Slaughter, Planning, Production (slaughter, deboning, trimming, slicing, transformation, packaging), Shipping, Warehouse, Quality

Additional: Integration with Marel machines

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What Changed After BRAINR

Production management across multiple lines

Before BRAINR, managing simultaneous production orders across multiple lines meant constant coordination and frequent adjustments. After implementation, Avisabor could run its MES system across all lines from a single platform, with real-time visibility at every stage. Delivery times improved and the already rare product delays became even rarer.

Fewer shipping errors, lower waste

Incorrect shipments had always been a costly problem. In an operation where the average return time from customers in Portugal and Spain is often the same as the product shelf life, a wrong delivery means product waste, not just a logistical inconvenience. With BRAINR, Avisabor gained inbound to dispatch visibility across the full outbound flow. The ability to eliminate labeling errors across both automated and manual lines removed one of the main root causes of incorrect shipments.

50% reduction in warehouse storage time

Better production planning, combined with real-time stock visibility and full control of factory sections, allowed Avisabor to significantly reduce dwell time in the warehouse. Average storage time dropped by 50%. Products reach customers fresher and cold chain costs are lower. This is one of the most immediate financial benefits of implementing warehouse management at operational scale.

Full real-time traceability

Every batch now carries full traceability data, meeting the standards required by major retail chains without additional manual effort. Audits and certifications that previously required significant preparation are now faster and simpler because all data is centralised, timestamped, and accessible in real time.

Automatic data flow from machines to ERP

Real-time operational data flows automatically from machines into BRAINR and from BRAINR into the ERP. Production costs, downtimes, and operational profitability are now managed with accurate, live data rather than end-of-shift manual entrie

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Why It Worked

Three factors made the Avisabor implementation successful.

The first was industry depth. BRAINR's knowledge of poultry processing and retail requirements meant the team spoke the same language as Avisabor from day one. Solutions were aligned with the operation's reality, not adapted from generic manufacturing software.

The second was a phased approach focused on quick wins. The transition to digital did not disrupt factory operations at any stage. No production errors, no stock shortages, no delivery delays during the rollout.

The third was hands-on training. Every operator was trained to use BRAINR independently. The goal was not just adoption but ownership: teams that understood the system well enough to manage it themselves and contribute to its improvement.

The Result

100% of Avisabor's operations running on BRAINR in 4 months. More than 100 users trained. More than 100 devices connected. Warehouse storage time cut by 50%. And a factory that scaled from 40,000 to 190,000 birds per day on a fully digitised foundation.

Watch the full story in the video above.

Interested in what BRAINR could do for your operation? 👉 Book a demo

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