Marel Fish Executive Vice President Ólafur Karl Sigurðarson said new industry 4.0 technologies offer the means for seafood processors and the wider value chain to meet rising standards from consumers and are giving seafood companies better opportunities to adapt and grow.
Speaking at the 2023 North Atlantic Seafood Forum, Sigurðarson said the speed of innovation in the processing sector has never been faster and the seafood industry’s access to technology has never been better. But to fully take advantage, companies need to be fully focused on what they want to achieve and what’s needed to get them there.
“The future is a lot closer than we think. We’ve been moving from human operators to machines, and from machines to solutions (software and services), but now we are entering into the age of platforms. Those platforms are interconnected and run by AI,” he said. “There are a lot of opportunities out there to take advantage of, and to do so, we need to move beyond the steel. Let’s turn data into valuable information, and let’s transform seafood processing. This won’t be a straight road. There will be twists and turns, but we believe those companies that carve out such strategies will see the competitive advantage of doing so.”
Seafood will play an increasingly important role in feeding the world’s growing population, Sigurðarson said.
“The consumer is key in our industry. Our lives have been changing, our habits have been changing, and the speed of that is ever-increasing. All of that changes how we want to consume food and protein – in a more-convenient way,” he said. “If we look at retailers’ shelves, we see a lot of new products introduced to the market every year – ranging from snack bites, skin packs, value-added products, ready-to-eat bowls, and everything in-between. This is fantastic, but it also calls for smarter processing and mass-customization.”
Photo courtesy of Marel
