Marine Harvest Ryfisk (Norway), wanted to improve their plant’s efficiency and increase the throughput without changing their crew.
Located in the south western part of Norway, Marine Harvest Ryfisk wanted to improve their plant’s efficiency and increase throughput without changing their crew. To achieve this, they installed a Marel grader solution and packing line, managed by Marel’s Innova Food Processing Software.
Marel technicians were present during the startup of the production. “They helped us with adjustments and tuning of the equipment that had become necessary after startup,” says Odd Fosså, Production Manager at the plant.
We are realists, so we expected a few challenges to arise during startup, this always happens when you start new systems and machines. However, we were very satisfied with just how fast we approached the target capacity!
Odd Fosså
Production Manager at the plant
When we met Fosså and Per Magne Gabrielsen, Plant Manager at Marine Harvest Ryfisk, two weeks after installation, they’d already reached 85% of the design capacity. “This is beyond all expectations,” they both say. “Some days we experience full utilization capacity, and we didn’t expect the production to run at this capacity this early. To see these results now is just amazing.”
After only 15 days of production, they have come a long way compared with expectations and past experiences. “Things take time. All the high-tech and complex systems need to fit together. All in all everything has worked out very fine,” says Gabrielsen.
“Our employees on the grader are very pleased. They were a little skeptical to begin with, but now they are very satisfied. The challenges that have come up have been solved to our satisfaction and Marel made sure that the necessary resources were available and in place at our facility when we needed them.”
The work done by the project manager ahead of the actual installation ensured that all the equipment was in place at the right time and that the installation was very smooth.
“We are very impressed with this,” say both Gabrielsen and Fosså. “Marel implemented and installed the equipment without any hiccups and they supervised the whole process.”
Consumers and legislation demand that food producers place a big emphasis on daily food safety. “We are very pleased with the food safety we achieve with Marel's hygienic design,” says Fosså. “This has simplified the cleaning of the grader. The design makes cleaning much easier, and the result is saved time and confidence that the machine is completely clean.”
“We needed software that would control everything and we considered various suppliers for handling the whole plant,” says Gabrielsen. “We were very focused on price, quality, and on getting a user-friendly system.” Marel’s Innova Food Processing Software was the conclusion.
Ryfisk has been using Innova for many years. “Employees in the production were all familiar with Innova and this was also of crucial importance when Marel was chosen as a supplier,” says Fosså.
Ryfisk has been a pilot company for ITM and the filleting machine. Gabrielsen is particularly pleased with the functionality and small footprint of the Filleting Machine MS 2730.
“We are thrilled with the size of the machine,” says Gabrielsen. “Ryfisk managed to maintain the same fillet production as before the upgrade, thanks to the compact filleting line solution. In addition, I think Marel has been innovative with its new package programs. Marel equipment and solutions work and meet our needs!” he concludes.
“We were very pleased when Marel was able to compete on all terms, such as the technical, streamlining, and the financial part,” says Gabrielsen, who started with the company just after the first grader was installed. “It felt right to partner up with Marel once again,” he adds.
Fosså agrees: “We have been in partnership since 1999. This was the year we bought our first Marel Grader and it has been running for over two decades now, with two shifts per day.”
Fosså has 27 years’ experience with the plant. He participated in the transition from manual handling to the installation of the Marel grader solution, with the objective of increasing capacity by 40% within existing production areas.
This is the kind of quality equipment every manufacturer wants; the machine should simply work and help ensure we meet our production goals.
Odd Fosså
Production Manager at the plant
“We’ve been in partnership with Marel for several decades and it’s a great advantage for us to continue with Marel as a supplier,” says Fosså.
“Communication between Ryfisk and Marel has been great – right from the beginning of the design process through to installation and startup, and met all our expectations, "says Gabrielsen. “Everything has gone according to plan, and the communication and implementation from start to finish is simply impressive.”
“We’re very pleased with the partnership,” Fosså agrees.
Soon after the contract was signed in February 2017, there was a change at Marel that led to a new project manager, Sigrún Hallgrímsdóttir, taking over the project. Gabrielsen and Fosså were skeptical when they were alerted about the project manager replacement, “but Sigrún did a great job and I think no one could have done a better job than she did,” says Fosså.
“It feels very comfortable dealing with the same contact persons and partners after 20-25 years,” says Gabrielsen. “Roy Arne Sørvik and Åsmund Haga have been with us all the way and they are still working in Marel. This continuity and stability builds trust.
We know that we can always call when there’s something we want to discuss or need information about,” say both Fosså and Gabrielsen. “We haven’t had a single major breakdown (over many hours) that has caused the loss of raw materials for the almost 20 years the grader has been operating.”
“All in all, the delivery and the service Marel has given us is simply phenomenal,” says Fosså.
“We’ve never experienced critical issues regarding the old grader during production time,” adds Gabrielsen. “It's simply amazing! We know that the graders from Marel do the job and we look forward to the results we will get when the new grader is adjusted.”
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