ProSort Blog

An efficient sorting workflow isn’t necessarily the barn where pigs move the fastest or employees appear the busiest.

In many cases, it’s the opposite.

The strongest workflows tend to look almost uneventful.

Pigs move predictably. Employees intervene less. Sorting happens as part of the normal production process rather than becoming an event that disrupts the day. Small problems are identified before they turn into larger ones.

And perhaps most importantly, people aren’t constantly compensating for friction somewhere else in the system.

Throughout the ProSort Performance and Labour Series, we’ve explored how automated sorting can improve labour efficiency, how barn setup influences performance, and how automation is changing the role of employees.

That leads to a practical question:

What does an efficient sorting workflow actually look like inside the barn?

The answer isn’t found in the sorter alone.

It’s found in everything that happens before, during and after a pig moves through it.

Efficiency Starts Before the Sorter

One of the easiest mistakes to make when evaluating sorting efficiency is beginning at the equipment.

The better place to start may be several feet—or even several pens—before it.

Pigs need to reach the sorting system naturally and consistently.

That means evaluating the entire path:

Are pigs encountering congestion?

Are gates positioned in ways that encourage movement?

Are feed and water locations influencing traffic?

Are there areas where pigs consistently hesitate?

Does stocking density allow normal movement?

Are employees routinely required to encourage pigs through certain locations?

An efficient workflow reduces these friction points before pigs ever reach the sorter.

The objective is not to force more pigs through the system.

It’s to create an environment where moving through the system becomes part of normal pig behaviour.

When that happens, automation has something important to work with: consistent flow.

The Best Workflow Requires Less Intervention

Labour efficiency is sometimes measured by how quickly employees can complete a task.

Sorting systems introduce another possibility:

What if the employee doesn’t need to perform as much of the task in the first place?

Traditional manual sorting can require employees to identify pigs, separate animals, move groups, manage gates and reorganize pens.

Automated sorting changes that workflow by making sorting part of the pigs’ regular movement through the barn.

That doesn’t eliminate the role of employees.

It changes it.

Instead of continually creating movement, employees can monitor movement.

Instead of physically sorting every animal, they can watch for exceptions.

Instead of spending their time completing a repetitive process, they can focus their attention where human judgment has greater value.

That is an important distinction.

An efficient workflow doesn’t simply help people work faster.

It reduces the amount of unnecessary work that needs to happen at all.

Look for Friction, Not Just Failure

When a workflow becomes inefficient, there isn’t always an obvious breakdown.

Often, friction appears gradually.

An employee has to open a gate more frequently.

A group of pigs begins hesitating in a certain area.

Traffic backs up at a particular time of day.

Someone develops a workaround.

The workaround becomes routine.

Eventually, the additional work feels normal.

This is one of the challenges George Waldner and the ProSort team have emphasized throughout their work with producers: small changes elsewhere in the barn can eventually affect how the sorting system performs.

The most useful question isn’t always:

“What’s broken?”

Sometimes it’s:

“Where are we doing work that we shouldn’t have to do?”

That question can reveal inefficiencies long before they become equipment or performance problems.

Watch the Pigs

One of the best indicators of workflow efficiency doesn’t come from a spreadsheet.

It comes from watching pigs move.

Do they approach the system naturally?

Do they hesitate?

Do they turn back?

Does one location repeatedly become congested?

Are pigs competing for access to resources in ways that interfere with traffic?

Does movement change at particular times of day?

Pig behaviour provides continuous feedback about the environment around the sorting system.

A well-designed workflow works with that behaviour rather than constantly trying to overcome it.

When pigs move comfortably and predictably, employees typically need to intervene less.

When intervention begins increasing, the behaviour may be telling managers that something in the environment has changed.

That makes observation one of the most valuable tools in an automated barn.

Standardize What Should Be Repeatable

Efficient workflows depend on consistency.

If different employees manage the same situation in completely different ways, the production environment becomes less predictable for both pigs and people.

That doesn’t mean every barn task requires a complicated written procedure.

It does mean the operation should have clear expectations around the routines that influence pig flow.

How are gates positioned?

How are emerging bottlenecks handled?

When should employees intervene?

What should be checked during a barn walk?

How are changes communicated between shifts?

When does a small problem require management attention?

Consistency prevents temporary solutions from quietly becoming permanent sources of inefficiency.

It also makes training easier.

A new employee entering a well-organized system doesn’t have to learn a collection of individual workarounds.

They learn the workflow.

Measure Employee Intervention

Sorting data can provide valuable information about system performance.

But another useful metric may be much simpler:

How often are employees having to intervene?

If a system that previously required little attention suddenly requires employees to redirect pigs several times each day, something has changed.

Maybe the sorter itself needs attention.

But maybe pig flow has changed.

Stocking pressure may have increased.

A gate may have moved.

Feed or water access may be influencing traffic.

A new group of pigs may behave differently.

The important point is that increasing labour requirements can themselves become an early warning signal.

Instead of accepting additional intervention as part of the job, managers can ask why it has become necessary.

That turns labour from merely an expense into another source of operational information.

Don’t Optimize One Part of the Barn at the Expense of Another

Efficiency can become misleading when it is measured too narrowly.

A change may make one task faster while creating additional work somewhere else.

A gate adjustment might improve movement in one location but create congestion downstream.

Increasing density might appear to improve space utilization while making pig movement more difficult.

Changing a routine might save several minutes in the morning but require additional employee intervention later in the day.

That is why automated sorting needs to be evaluated as part of the entire production system.

The objective isn’t to make the sorter efficient in isolation.

The objective is to create an efficient barn workflow.

That means considering how decisions affect pigs, employees, equipment and daily routines together.

Use Automation to Create a More Predictable Day

One of the less obvious benefits of an efficient workflow is predictability.

Manual sorting can create labour spikes.

Employees may need to be pulled from other responsibilities. Regular routines are interrupted. Other work gets postponed while sorting takes priority.

When automated sorting becomes part of normal pig movement, that disruption can be reduced.

The work doesn’t necessarily disappear.

Instead, it becomes more manageable.

Employees can spend more of the day on planned responsibilities such as:

animal observation,

health management,

preventative maintenance,

facility checks,

reviewing production information,

and addressing smaller issues before they become larger ones.

That creates value beyond the sorting process itself.

Predictable workflows make it easier to manage people, prioritize work and maintain consistency throughout the barn.

The Goal Isn’t a Barn Without People

Automation discussions can easily drift toward the idea of eliminating labour.

But the most efficient workflow isn’t necessarily the one with the fewest people.

It’s the one where people spend the least amount of time doing work that technology can perform consistently—and the most time doing work that requires experience and judgment.

Technology can sort.

It can measure.

It can record.

It can repeat the same process thousands of times.

Experienced stockpeople bring something different.

They understand pigs.

They notice subtle changes.

They recognize when behaviour isn’t normal.

They connect information from different parts of the barn.

They make decisions.

A well-designed workflow puts each where it creates the greatest value.

Five Signs Your Sorting Workflow Is Working

An efficient automated sorting workflow often has several recognizable characteristics.

1. Pig movement is predictable.
Pigs move through the system naturally without frequent hesitation or congestion.

2. Employee intervention is the exception rather than the routine.
Staff monitor the process instead of constantly creating or correcting movement.

3. Daily routines are consistent.
Different employees understand how the system should operate and respond to problems in similar ways.

4. Small changes are noticed early.
Increasing intervention, changing traffic patterns or unusual pig behaviour prompt investigation before performance deteriorates.

5. Automation creates time elsewhere.
The system allows employees to spend more time on animal care, observation, maintenance and management rather than simply transferring labour from one repetitive task to another.

None of these outcomes comes from equipment alone.

They come from aligning technology with pig behaviour, facility design and management.

From Sorting System to Management System

The evolution of automated sorting is ultimately about more than sorting pigs.

When properly integrated, the system becomes part of how the barn operates.

Pig movement provides information.

Employee intervention provides information.

Sorting results provide information.

Changes in workflow provide information.

The producer’s job is to connect those signals.

That is where the progression we’ve explored throughout this series becomes important.

First, understand that sorter performance depends on the environment around it.

Then remove setup mistakes and friction.

Use automation to improve labour efficiency.

Give employees more time to observe and make decisions.

And finally, build a workflow where all of those pieces function together.

That is when automation stops feeling like another piece of equipment in the barn.

It becomes part of the management system.

Closing Thought

The most efficient sorting workflow may be the one you barely notice.

Pigs move.

The system sorts.

Employees observe.

Exceptions receive attention.

And the rest of the barn continues operating without sorting becoming a major interruption to the day.

Getting there requires more than installing technology.

It requires understanding pig behaviour, protecting natural flow, maintaining consistent routines and continually looking for unnecessary friction.

George Waldner and the team at ProSort Systems have spent decades working with producers on those relationships because automated sorting performs best when the entire environment around it supports success.

The goal isn’t simply to move pigs through a sorter more efficiently.

It’s to create a barn where pigs, people and technology work together with less friction every day.

And that may be the most useful definition of an efficient sorting workflow.