DENMARK
Marel offers a complete range of fish processing solutions
Combining strong customer focus with cutting edge technology The birth of salmon farming and its subsequent rapid growth led to the development of a vast range of products and service dedicated to each link in the production and value addition chains of salmon and large sea-raised trout. Equipment for the European salmon processing industry has evolved steadily as the number and type of products that are produced from salmon increase and change. Several multinational companies produce equipment for the salmon processing industry, but few are as well known as Marel.
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arel is headquartered in Iceland, but has over thirty locations on six continents and sales around the world making it a global company. Around 50 of new equipment sales originate outside the established markets of North America and Western Europe, compared with 20 a few years ago. The company serves four core industries, poultry, fish, meat, and further processing and in terms of 2012 sales, while the poultry business segment was the undisputed leader with over 50, the fish division came in second at 18. Marel’s salmon division is based in Nørresundby in Denmark, where it employs some 95 staff. Altogether in Denmark Marel has four locations employing some 275 people generating about EUR100m in turnover.
Growth by acquisition The salmon division has grown both organically and by acquisition since 1997 when Carnitech, a Danish manufacturer of highend processing equipment, was taken over by Marel. At the time increasing volumes of salmon were being imported into Denmark to be processed. According to the FAO, total imports of salmon into Denmark went from 31,666 tonnes in 1991 to peak at 164,000 tonnes in 2003. Carnitech began manufacturing equipment for the www.eurofishmagazine.com
salmon processing industry in 1998. As it was a well-known and reputable brand products retained the Carnitech name although it was now a part of Marel. Two more acquisitions followed in quick succession a few years later. CP Food Machinery another Danish firm was acquired by Marel in 2002 and two years later the German slicing company Geba was also taken over. In 2006 the salmon division was established in Nørresundby comprising Carnitech’s salmon division, CP Food Machinery, and Geba and in 2010 the name was changed from Carnitech Salmon to Marel Salmon as part of a rebranding exercise within Marel. Marel’s salmon processing equipment can broadly be divided into wet and dry machinery. The former comprises all the equipment that converts a raw fish into a fillet that is ready, for example, to be smoked, while the dry division covers slicing machines and packing lines. Each of these, the wet and the dry, is responsible for about 50 of the turnover at Marel Salmon. Machinery made at the division in Nørresundby is only for salmon processing, says Michael Hjortshøj, product marketing manager. Some equipment such as portioning and grading machines are also made elsewhere, but they are used for other products as well, such as meat or poultry,
while those that are made here are used purely to process salmon. The range of wet equipment starts with de-icers, which remove the ice, and de-slimers, which wash the fish clean of slime and blood. The fish at this stage are head on, gutted fish, which then move to be de-headed either manually or by machine. The de-headed fish then continue to the filleting machine, one of Marel’s areas of expertise. The range of filleting machines consist of three main models, the oldest of which, the CT 2611 dates back to 1996. Since then however it has been regularly upgraded to ensure it meets all the requirements of a modern production line. While the CT 2611 uses only band knives, the next model up, the CT 2630, uses a combination of band and circular knives to give a better yield. At the top of the line is the MS 2730, a machine that was introduced in 2011 and is more automated than its predecessors giving higher yield, greater throughput, and easier operation.
Reliable machines reduce the need for monitoring After filleting and trimming the pinbones need to be removed, a process for which the company offers several different solutions from standalone machines to others that can be integrated into an
existing processing line. Irrespective of the machine used pinbones are removed efficiently yet gently with little or no impact on the fillet. The pinbone removers can have a single lane, double lane, or even four lanes depending on the client’s requirements. The most sophisticated of the pinbone removers uses suction cups and a vacuum to take away the pinbones and any surplus water from the surface of the fillet. An extra set of heads to remove the most difficult pinbones is optional. Usually after going through a pinbone machine it is necessary for the fillet to be manually checked so that any remaining bones can be removed. While 4-6 people are needed after the mechanical pinbone removers, only two people are necessary after the vacuum pinbone remover, says Michael Hjortshøj. Following the removal of the pinbones, the fillets continue through additional processes, such as skinning, washing, or salting before being packed and labelled. Slicing machines are another Marel speciality and the range of machines includes D cut slicers, horizontal slicers, multi angle slicers, and the retail pack slicer. The D cut slicers, so called because the slice is shaped like the letter D, are designed to slice skinless hot or cold smoked, or marinated salmon fillets. They are controlled by a single operator who can
Eurofish Magazine 5 / 2013
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