Record Flowline Sales in Iceland

“The only rule is to stay competitive”

Last year was the best ever for sales of Marel flowline equipment in Iceland, the company’s home market and one of the world’s most experienced and knowledgeable fishing and fish processing societies. These flowlines are an important reason why the value of fish products in Iceland is rising despite lower catch quotas.

“Processors in Iceland understand more than ever that flowline systems and solutions, which Marel has innovated and developed over recent years, are the main reason why they are still highly competitive. This applies to processors large and small, and the latter group has been implementing these solutions in growing numbers. Iceland has some of the best fishing grounds, but processors must safeguard that quality all the way to market. Our flowlines ensure that ‘quality in also means quality out,’” says Guðjón Stefánsson, fish consultant at Marel´s Business Center.

Flowline solutions from Marel lower costs, increase efficiency, reduce overweight, improve utilization of higher-priced items, guarantee 100% traceability, maximize quality control, enhance ergonomic configurations and allow management to monitor and control all processing operations in real-time.

“Marel plays a fundamental role in enhancing every aspect of processing performance – and power,” says Guðjón. “For example, the company has developed filleting and trimming flowlines that track yield and quality from every worker – any problems that arise are immediately identified and fixed. On top of that, payback is even faster than most processors would allow themselves to imagine.”

Recent innovative solutions from Marel include being able to grade specific product sizes for packing fresh, while other sizes are automatically transported to further processing such as pan freezing. Another innovation involves moving fish from flowlines direct to a Check Bin Grader that automatically batches into retail packaging according to user-defined parameters – with a high precision of +/- 1-2 gr, which means virtually zero giveaway. This system also eliminates the need for manually weighing portions.

“Iceland is a small country, so everyone knows when some new innovation is having a real impact on another processor’s performance. Many follow suit, because they are not about to be left behind in the competition,” explains Guðjón. “This is also becoming true on a global scale. Processors must keep up to date technologically or risk being left behind in quality and efficiency – Icelandic processors have achieved highly competitive results by installing Marel equipment and solutions.

“Part of our job at Marel is to show how innovations can positively affect operations large and small. Competition is competition – the only rule to stay competitive.”