High-tech company Valka and seafood producer FISK Seafood have signed an agreement for a new batching and automatic packing system for light salted frozen fillets. The system automatically weighs, batches and packs products to final boxes with unparalleled accuracy and precision, providing significant savings in the giveaway for each packed box.
“This investment shows that we at FISK Seafood are forward-looking in our decisions,” said Asmundur Baldvinsson, manager of FISK Seafood land-based production, of the equipment to be supplied in the €600,000 contract.
“I’m quite confident that we will achieve a short payback time. The most significant benefit is realised in batching precision. The level of automation will also enable direct gains with labour costs.”
When packing fixed weight products, the importance of managing giveaway in each box is crucial. Traditional batching graders decide which box in which to place each piece based on a statistical guess. The Valka Batching and Packing robot recognises the weight of several pieces in advance before applying a game a theory algorithm.
This enables it to continually optimise the best configuration, based on actual piece weights, resulting in close to zero giveaway.
As traditional pneumatic arms would damage glazing, and potentially break thin parts such as tail pieces, the Valka Packing Robot is designed with a unique carousel. The built-in cars of the carousel carefully pick up and transport the product. An integrated cartesian robot then gently slides the portion for delivery directly above the final packaging. The system allows products to travel gently and smoothly through the carousel, without attrition or breakage of the product.
“We are grateful for the trust Fisk Seafood has shown us. Companies like Valka would not exist without partners willing to try things for the first time,” said Guðjon Ingi Gudjonsson, one of Valka’s sales managers.
“Our solution has been a great success in packaging fresh products for a long time, and with some clever design updates, the Aligner Packing Robot is a flexible and hugely valuable solution for diverse packing needs.”
