Kópavogur, Iceland-based processing technology innovator Valka has contracted with FISK Seafood to provide the company with a new batching and automatic packing system for light-salted frozen fillets, the firms announced on 23 April.
The contract is the range of EUR 600,000 (USD 648,291) for the system, which can automatically weigh, batch, and pack products to final boxes “with unparalleled accuracy and precision,” Valka said. The batching unit can save significantly in the giveaway of each packed box, the company added, particularly when packing products in fixed weight.
“This investment shows that we at FISK Seafood are forward-looking in our decisions,” FISK Seafood Manager of Land-Based Production Asmundur Baldvinsson said. “I‘m quite confident that we will achieve a short payback time. The most significant benefit is realized with batching precision; however, the level of automation will also enable direct gains with labor costs.”
While traditional batching graders tend to base which box to place each product in on a statistical guess, Valka’s batching and packing robotic solution recognizes product weight in advance before applying a game theory algorithm.
“That way, it continually optimizes the best solution based on actual piece weights, resulting in close to no giveaway (a.k.a. overpack),” Valka noted in a press release.
Designed with a carousel, the Valka’s packing robot consists of built-in cars capable of delicately picking up and transporting products – a departure from traditional pneumatic arms, which can damage glazing and thin parts of seafood products, such as tails. An integrated cartesian robot, Valka’s creation slides portions of products for delivery directly above the final packaging, allowing it “to travel gently and smoothly through the carousel, without attrition or breakage of the product,” Valka explained.
“We are grateful for the trust Fisk Seafood has shown us. Companies like Valka would not exist without partners that are willing to try things for the first time,” Valka Sales Manager Guðjon Ingi Gudjonsson said. “Our solution has been a great success in the packaging of 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.”
Photo courtesy of Valka
