Machines taking over in Vietnam

Proof, if it were needed, is provided by the news that Vietnam's latest, and biggest, white fish processing plant is using more equipment than ever before.

Nam Viet Corporation (Navico) opened its fourth factory – Indian Ocean Freezing Factory – earlier this year to process pangasius, a farmed freshwater catfish species which is exported all over the world, particularly to Eastern Europe.

Representing an investment of $50 million – and remember that this is a Communist country – the new plant employs 7,000 staff, 2,100 of whom work in the giant trimming hall, about the only section where manual labour still reigns supreme.

The Vietnamese are careful when it comes to money and the use of machines has to be cost effective. A year or so ago Baader carried out trials with a complete catfish processing line in a pangasius plant in Vietnam. The trials were successful, but the Vietnamese processor would not meet Baader's price for the line so it was crated up and taken away.

However, Doan Toi, president of Navico, has invested $30 million in processing technology for the Indian Ocean Freezing Plant, the latest in his expanding production empire.

Every stage in the processing procedure is monitored by 75 cameras and displayed on giant Panasonic screens outside the production area. Here, nine supervisors control the supply of raw fish by automatic conveyors to where it is most needed.

There are 24 fully equipped lines in the plant, beginning where the fish are slaughtered and continuing until the frozen products are packed; a journey that takes less than an hour.

Each line has its own Cretel skinning machine situated en route to the trimming hall. After manual trimming, the fillets are sorted in size using Carnitech weigh graders that batch the fillets as required. The fillets are then placed by hand on belts leading into Japanese Mycom freezers. Each line has its own Mycom IQF belt freezer.

After freezing, the fillets are glazed by passing through a water bath and then re-frozen in Dantech machines imported from Singapore.

The frozen fillets are packed in different containers for different markets. Some are even consumer packed in foil bags which are sealed by Shindaigo machines manufactured in Japan.

As more new pangasius processing plants are built in Vietnam, and they are being built all the time, the more the labour force will be depleted. So what is being seen in the Indian Ocean Freezing Plant will become the norm, and even more automation will be deployed.

Vietnam seems to have an inexhaustible supply of pangasius. And although there have been well documented cases of contamination by antibiotics and, ironically, harmful microorganisms, this species will continue to make inroads into markets where wild-caught white fish are becoming ever more scarce and therefore expensive.

Processing, and packaging, machinery manufacturers will do well to turn their attention eastwards as the demand for ever more sophisticated equipment will surely rise.