FOOD & BEVERAGE INDUSTRY FOCUS RISING TO THE CHALLENGE OF FISH FILLETING
The automation of a tricky herring filleting operation, using control and vision systems from Omron, is ensuring quality and cost- efficiency, and has increased throughput, at Seafood Parlevliet
F
ish manufacturer Seafood Parlevliet has achieved a 75% reduction in
manual labour and up to five times the speed with a new automated production line. The solution created by Innovotech BV, a local automation partner, includes control and vision systems from Omron, and enables the company to preserve competitive production in the Netherlands. Raw brined herring is an acquired taste
and holds a special place in many Dutch people’s hearts. Combined with a sprinkling of raw onions, many say that taking a big bite of the herring vertically while holding onto the tail of the fish is the only right way to eat it. However, this poses special requirements during the filleting process, as the tail of the fish needs to be preserved, in addition to demanding quality requirements.
A COMPETITIVE MARKET Seafood Parlevliet has produced packaged fish products since 1968 at their family-owned factory at the harbour of Ijmuiden, in the Netherlands. The company faced a challenge, as filleting herring usually involves several manual steps, as does the skinning process, which is typically carried out by skilled and experienced workers. In Northern Europe, it is especially difficult to find the right people for the job. In addition, the seafood market in the Netherlands is highly competitive. To ensure efficient and competitive
herring production for Seafood Parlevliet, Innovotech BV developed a new prototype to automate the manual steps in the process, such as skinning and scraping the fish. In addition, the fish needed to be cut to the right size, while keeping the tail intact. High quality, safety and hygiene needed to be ensured throughout the entire process. As the herring must be frozen for a
minimum of 48 hours due to health regulations to ensure that no parasites are present, Seafood Parlevliet stores the
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labour for Seafood Parlevliet, with the pick and place of the fish to the production line now the only manual step in the process. The automated production line includes
various Omron components, such as frequency regulators, servo drives, feeding solutions, safety blocks, as well as the brain of the machine in the panel solution. The panel building for the electrical control of the system was carried out by A. Hagoort Besturingstechniek.
The automated
production line includes various Omron components, such as frequency regulators, servo drives, feeding solutions, safety blocks, as well as the brain of the machine in the panel solution
fish in a frozen warehouse in bags of brine. This also ensures that the fish can be harvested at the best time in the summer and prepared for consumers on demand. Once thawed, the herrings go through the automated filleting process in several steps. The solution also includes adding the diced onions, as well as placing the fillets into their final packaging ready for consumers.
Machine vision helps ensure 100% quality of each fillet that goes through the production line
INCREASED THROUGHPUT Since the introduction of the first prototype and the vast amount of data collected throughout the development process, the speed of fillets handled by each worker has gone up from approximately 200 per hour during the manual process, to as much as 1000 per hour with the latest version of the automated solution. In March 2018, the factory went
through a complete rebuild to automate the entire production line, with three lines now in operation. This has so far resulted in 75% reduction in manual
MEETING CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS In addition, Omron FH vision system and cameras, paired with lighting and bespoke machine vision software, were implemented to carry out several vision checks during the process. The inspection ensures that the appearance of the fillets meets the high quality standards of the company so that, for example, no traces of blood are present and the skin and fins of the fish consistently meet customer requirements. Any fish that does not meet the requirements is removed from the production line. “We believe that finding the perfect
technical solution using the best components available has resulted in the perfect solution also in terms of quality and economics,” said Rick van den Berg, R&D Manager at Innovotech BV. “Thanks to continuous development, the high quality components from a single source and the vision expertise of Omron, we have been able to automate the filleting and packaging operation. The machine can now handle any type of herring with high precision and accuracy, while ensuring consistency for the customers,” Van den Berg concluded. “With machine vision, we can help
ensure 100% quality of each fillet that goes through the production line,” said Mark van den Hoek, sales engineer at Omron. “During the development process, we have actually supported Innovotech and Seafood Parlevliet in identifying potential quality issues with specialised machine vision.” “With the experience gained from this
project, we are now looking into new automation opportunities together with Seafood Parlevliet,” said Van den Berg. “I can assure that also the future projects will be fulfilled with Omron equipment. We have been very happy with the support from Omron and the benefits that we have and will be able to realise together for Seafood Parlevliet. We look forward to working together, to ensure competitive local production at the highest quality.”
Omron
omron.co.uk
PROCESS & CONTROL | JULY/AUGUST 2020 33
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