Slippurinn Akureyri has contracted with Hafnarfjörður processor Hólmasker to design, manufacture and install a specialised production line.
Hólmasker specialised in handling haddock, and the bulk of the 4000 tonnes it processes each year is frozen for export to the US market, although the proportion of fresh production exported has been increasing.
The new processing line is designed by Slippurinn staff in Grindavík and the expectation is that installation will be completed during Hólmasker’s break in production over Christmas. Around 90% of the company’s production is filleted by hand – and the new processing line will have ten workstations, two more than the current facilities.
‘Our hand filletting line is old and tired, and it’s time for it to be replaced. This gives us an opportunity to add more workstations, both to improve throughput, but also to cope with changing circumstances as the haddock we have been processing has been smaller than in previous years,’ said Albert Erluson, Hólmasker’s managing director.
‘This new hand filletting line is in fact the third time that Slippurinn has worked for us, and based on our previous experience with them, going back to them for this new processing line was the obvious choice.’
The development of Hólmasker’s hand filletting line follows on from the company’s adoption of Slippurinn’s Promas production software to keep track of production, quality and yield, according to Óli Björn Ólafsson, sales manager at Slippurinn’s Grindavík division.
‘We originally developed the Promas software in the spring of 2023 to accompany the DNG whole fish graders,’ he said.
‘The system stores all of a processor’s production data, and in the same way it will gather the whole range of data for Hómlasker’s new hand filletting line. It allows managers to call up all of the information they need for running their production.’
