A detailed model of crawfish processing operations was developed using the SLAM II simulation language. the simulation model was used to compare overall plant performance for two crawfish cooking schemes, boiling water and steam infusion, and to evaluate processing parameters for different plant capacities. For all the range of operating levels included in this study (2,400‐19,000 lb of live crawfish/day or 360‐2,900 lb of tail meat/day), the steam infusion cooking scheme rendered shorter processing times than those required by the boiling water cooking scheme. Moreover, the batch sizes and amount of resources used are smaller for the steam infusion cooking scheme. the simulation model is a valuable tool to analyze the performance of crawfish plants as well as to determine the impact of changes in technology on the overall process.