HB Grandi has signed a contract with Skaginn to supply an IQ freezing system for the company’s processing plant in Akranes, which is expected to boost production of individually quick frozen products from 800 kg to 2500 kg per hour.
‘Boosting production means that overtime can be reduced, also increasing quality and giving us the possibility to produce larger quantities more easily if the need arises,’ says Torfi Thorsteinsson, manager of the company’s groundfish production division. The increased production capacity is also an advantage for when there is a strong supply on the auctions or when the company’s fishing vessels have been fishing particularly well
According to Torfi Thorsteinsson, the summer break in production will be used to install the new production facilities and at the same time the opportunity will be taken to simplify the production process, as the new line is designed around production of lightly-salted, frozen fillets, with the new line scheduled to be taken into operation on the 18th of August.
Injection salting of saithe and cod fillets began at HB Grandi’s Akranes factory yesterday, using a new set of equipment from Fomaco which Torfi Thorsteinsson says has great potential. This equipment was installed at a cost of 20 million Isl Kr and the contract with Skaginn for the IQF line is worth 49 million Isl Kr. As well as improving production facilities, a general overhaul of the Akranes premises is in progress, with new windows being installed and the outside of the building being repainted.
