The global seafood supplier has driven down energy usage and costs with its recent implementation of Air Products Smart Technology
Iceland Seafood International (ISI), the Icelandic supplier of fish and other seafood products, has implemented Air Products’ Smart Technology (APST) with stellar results. ISI has driven down inputs such as liquid nitrogen and machinery downtime using APST, ultimately cutting down on its costs and environmental impact.
Neil Hansford, UK&I Freshline Applications product line manager at Air Products, commented on the benefits of APST in streamlining processes: "With APST, the technology helps food producers to reduce costs, downtime, along with product waste and liquid nitrogen usage - easing any financial pressures and environmental impact. More than ever food manufacturers need greater control over their food processes to cater to the changing needs of the market. This new technology will bolster resilience and ensure manufacturers are ready for future challenges."
Through the technology’s data monitoring capabilities, ISI’s team has been able to keep a close eye on costs per product. As Rob Wilson, the continuous improvement manager at ISI, puts it: "The more data we can get from our technology, the better. With the APST dashboard, we’re keeping records of any trends, the cost per kilo and conversion rate by product - it’s extremely helpful to know which products we need to look at and which are costing us more money."
With a deeper understanding of specific outgoings for individual products, the company has more information to make business decisions, and quickly. This information transparency brings about agility - which has already benefited ISI. "We are still at a relatively early stage of application, but the data has already helped us to make strategic business decisions, such as discontinuing a product and swapping one of the small tunnels for a medium one to provide extra capacity - as it was obvious both were costing the factory money. Without APST, we’d never have known this," continued Mr Wilson.
"One of the sensors recently diagnosed something that needed adjusting, so I was aware of this before the team on the factory floor knew what the issue was; I can literally monitor the dashboard and diagnose problems without leaving my office. It gives us greater insight and the ability to diagnose problems particularly quickly, resulting in less downtime, which is essential to preventing performance interruptions."
For companies with complex operations, digital technology such as APST has made strides in making sense of overlapping costs and processes, allowing businesses to make informed and intelligent decisions about their future.
Mr Hansford added: "The future of the food sector will be driven by data. Businesses won’t survive if they don’t use data in their production facilities, as they won’t have a true picture of what’s going on. Now that we’ve used APST, I wouldn’t want to work without it. The data is exactly what I need."