Valka RapidFeed says its new flow control system has boosted product handling so that two workers can now handle 1,000kg per hour compared to 600kg before. It quotes Grandi assistant plant manager Isleifur Arnarson as saying: "When we installed the freezer, we had some doubts that we could operate it efficiently at full capacity. As things have turned out, results have been better than we ever hoped, and the RapidFeed has been a key factor in achieving this.
"By being able to cut the number of workers required to feed the freezer to as few as four with some products, we've achieved a reduction of 30-50 per cent in terms of labour costs alone," he adds.
Valka says the system is suitable for all fish types and capable of handling anything from whole fillets to small pieces. The RapidFeed maintains a constant flow of product to each worker, virtually eliminating fluctuations in production which in a traditional system may be as much as 20-30 per cent of the maximum capacity of the freezer.
The main trialling has taken place at Reykjavik fisheries operator and processor Grandi, where three machines have been running 5-6 days a week for up to 16 hours at a time for the last few months, a Valka statement said. Processing mainly saithe and redfish whole fillets and portions, the trio have been serving, among other things, a new 2,500 kg/hour capacity IQF freezer recently installed by the company.
The constant flow has also helped with improved and more reliable temperature control within the freezer itself.
The RapidFeed consists of two product dispersers separated by a revolving scale. Product is emptied straight from a tub onto a conveyor, carrying them to the first disperser, which is equipped with a product sensor that maintains a continuous quantity of product in the unit by selectively starting or stopping the infeed conveyor. This ensures a continuous flow of pieces onto the scale. Once weighed, the second disperser then distributes pieces evenly onto a conveyor, thereby ensuring that worker time spent in re-arranging product, before it enters the freezer, is kept to an absolute minimum.
Control is through a Marel M3000 computer, programmed with production parameters to suit each species and type of fish. Freezer speed and throughput can be with a few keystrokes. It can be interfaced with production control software to provide precision control and a wide range of real-time data on every phase of the production process. "All in all, I would say that the Valka RapidFeed," says Grandi's Arnarson "is a first-class machine. Our workers like it, and it provides with a previously unheard of degree of automation without sacrificing anything at all terms of quality. If anything, I'd say quality has actually improved due to less manual handling," he states. Valka founder and engineer Helgi Hjálmarsson developed the RapidFeed in cooperation with Grandi and with backing from the Icelandic Fisheries Technology Forum. Iceland's Nesfiskur Ehf, has bought two 2,500 kg/hour IQF spiral freezers from Dantech of Singapore. The new machines will be installed during the summer. Nesfiskur mainly handles cod, saithe and redfish fillets.
