Auckland, New Zealand-based Sanford Limited has chosen Marel as its new manufacturing execution system and production management software supplier, around the same time as it announced its chief operating officer, Clement Chia, will resign by January 2022.
Sanford, which holds 19 percent of New Zealand’s total fishing quotas, began equipping its processing facilities with Marel’s Innova technology two years ago, with the company’s bringing its first factory officially online in August 2021. Marel said it is transitioning all its facilities, including centers in Bluff, Timaru, Havelock, Tauranga, and Auckland, to Marel’s systems.
“The significant contract covers all of the main pillars of Sanford’s business: whitefish, salmon and shellfish processing, as well as onboard solutions for factory trawlers, long-liners, and in-shore scampi vessels,” Marel said in a press release. “Innova will help Sanford control, monitor, and improve operations by managing the entire process from receiving raw material to dispatching finished goods. It will also ensure traceability, maximize yield, reduce giveaway to minimize food waste, and utilize the raw material in the best possible way to increase sustainability.”
“We are thrilled to be a part of Sanford’s journey to transform the way fish is processed by digitalizing their processes,” Innova International Sales Manger Bjarni Sigurdur Bergsson said. “We are confident that Innova will help them maintain their competitive edge and increase their adaptability to respond to evolving consumer demand. We’re proud of our team’s dedication and commitment to ensuring that the installations and service went smoothly, despite the hurdles of a global pandemic and travel restrictions.”
Bergsson said Marel has overseen the design-and-build phase of the project and conducted training workshops mainly online, with support from a local team on the ground in New Zealand.
“With over 2,200 production sites worldwide relying on Innova daily, Marel is well prepared for this massive undertaking,” Bergsson said.
Sanford Chief Customer Officer Andre Gargiulo said the shift to Marel technology came from his company’s “commitment to innovation.”
“It is vitally important to us to have systems in place that can enable and support our decision-making as we manage all our processes from sea to plate,” he said. “In the past, our paper-based systems have created significant challenges. We are looking forward to completing the Innova roll-out and welcoming a new era of data at our fingertips, making life easier for our people and enabling us to serve our customers better.”
Separately, on 5 November, Sanford announced the resignation of its chief operating officer, Clement Chia. According to a company press release, Chia will remain in his role until January 2021, during the search for his replacement. Simultaneously, Sanford will appoint an interim director of operations.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Sanford and the talented people I have been privileged to work with, however I feel I need a period of reset and refresh, after what has been an exhausting 18 months, as I have helped lead us through everything the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown at us,” Chia said.
Sanford CEO Peter Reidie praised Chia’s seven years of service on Sanford’s executive team, especially through the last two years, when the global COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for the company.
“Clement has been a strong and highly valued contributor to our business since he joined Sanford in 2014 as chief financial officer. He demonstrated his flexibility and leadership skills by taking on the role of chief operating officer in 2018,” Reidie said. “His list of achievements over the last seven years is considerable and he leaves his team in excellent shape.”
Photo courtesy of Marel
