Camanchaca and Maritech embrace the ‘digital data revolution’ in the seafood industry
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From Norway to North America to Chile, many of the world’s largest seafood companies are embracing the âdigital data revolutionâ.
This term, coined by Molde, Norway-based traceability and enterprise software developer, Maritech, encompasses the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and business intelligence (BI) analysis and flexible and connected software systems, as well as near real-time data communication to forecast all throughout the supply chain to quickly match supply to demand.
âThe pandemic has proven the value of flexible and connected software systems in shortening supply chains, quickly revealing new windows of opportunity,â said Kjell Jorgensen, director of global services at Maritech. âWith over 70% of Norwegian seafood exports passing through Maritech’s software systems, when pandemic disruptions occurred, a flow of last-minute information between sales staff, packaging factories and logistics providers was essential to manage sudden changes. “
Jorgensen said the seafood industry has changed after the pandemic in “revolutionary ways.”
âAs the pandemic crisis recedes, the seafood industry is awakening to a new normal. What the COVID crisis has revealed are significant weaknesses up and down the supply chain, with entire fleets tied up and products stranded across the world, âhe said. âWhat is clear from this unprecedented disruption is that technological innovation has been the key driver for seafood companies that have become stronger, more resilient and able to quickly adapt to market opportunities. Marlet. “
The pandemic marked a cultural shift among consumers, Jorgensen said, as they sought more seafood, but also paid more attention to sourcing and sustainability credentials of the products they were buying.
âThe importance of traceability, not only for complying with regulations and carrying out recalls, but also for telling the story of the fish, where it came from and how, is now more important than ever. These details can only be provided through the software’s ability to manage and digitally transmit data throughout the supply chain, âsaid Jorgensen. âWhen data is easily and securely transmitted and transparent, consumers have confidence in the quality and sustainability of the seafood they consume. And that’s good for the whole industry.
The post-pandemic seafood sector has a window of opportunity to redefine its industry’s best practices and processes to be more agile, flexible and ultimately more profitable, Jorgensen said.
And with technology becoming easier to implement and less expensive to adopt, even small local seafood companies now have online tools to quickly adapt to new markets and supply chains. , according to Kristjan Kristjansson, Maritech’s director of sales operations in North America. Kristjansson shared his surprise to see the successful pandemic experiences of a customer based in the US state of New Jersey who fully implemented Maritech software to run their international seafood sales operations within a week. .
âMaritech’s cloud-based DigitalSeafood software has really meant that sophisticated digital systems that would once have been out of reach for small operators are now readily available without any huge upfront investment costs and complex IT implementation cycles. âSaid Kristjansson. âIn addition to our core buying and selling software suite, we offer integrations to our own solutions with labeling and packaging systems, logistics, quality, complaints and IoT, as well as open and standards-based data integrations to third-party systems such as accounting, ERP or even government reporting. This kind of flexibility is revolutionizing the way seafood companies can now do business. “
As part of its innovation and digital transformation strategy, the Chilean salmon farmer Camanchaca has launched a project with the Chilean startup Altum Lab to implement artificial intelligence (AI) in order to optimize business performance, harvesting and handling of raw materials.
According to information from Corfo, the productive investment agency of the Chilean government, Altum’s Bruna AI platform is a cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) solution that examines all systems-related data regarding restrictions, line production, storage and sellability. Altum had detected problems with salmon aquaculture harvest times and the solution “demonstrates the most efficient time to harvest, and the network is learning”.
âSo over time it becomes more and more efficient in optimizing raw materials,â said Francisco Paredes, Chief Strategy Officer of Altum.
Timing of harvest is of great importance in the industry given a large number of variables including feed, growth rates and costs. Asia, Europe, wherever it is, and therefore [the salmon farmer can] increase profit margins, âsaid Paredes in a Corfo press release.
âBruna connects the commercial world with production, which hardly happens in aquaculture businesses, because the people who operate or produce are involved on a day-to-day basis while those in the commercial area oversee the contracts and there is no there is no fluid. communication of what each area needs – [a link between] the variation in prices, especially internationally, and what is produced, âhe said.
Camanchaca plans to improve its margins by 2-3% with the implementation of the system, while saving considerable man-hours and enabling immediate decisions to take advantage of opportunities as they arise, according to Cristóbal Carnero, deputy director of planning Camanchaca. He underlined the importance of harvest times, which âare a constant work of optimization, for which increasingly complex, fast and sophisticated tools are requiredâ.
âIt’s a changing market that is constantly adjusting and therefore we need tools that allow us to make immediate decisions to optimally allocate raw material,â he said.
Camanchaca decided to work with Altum Lab after reviewing their experience in developing IT solutions.
âWe already had an optimization system, but we wanted to add more features and make it faster, and we realized we needed the support of an expert company on this topic,â Carnero said.
Altum Lab, which uses AI to improve business processes and automate production, works with the Corfo InmersÃon AcuÃcola-funded innovation program (‘aquaculture immersion’), which was launched in October 2020 by the entrepreneurial organization and marketing Sinergia Marketing and Eventos; ProChile, the national investment promotion agency; and the SalmonChile salmon trade group. The contract with Camanchaca marks Altum’s first venture into the aquaculture industry, as it has traditionally focused on the warehousing, mining and agriculture industries.
According to Julio Brintrup, director of InmersÃon AcuÃcola, the contract between Altum and Camanchaca validates the objective of the program, “which is to open up the industry to receive solutions through startups and entrepreneurs, responding to challenges interesting in the field of productivity, procedures and management, while improving the value chain of the predominant industries in our country.
The program “seeks precisely to strengthen the culture of entrepreneurship, through initiatives that can reduce gaps and stimulate entrepreneurial activity,” said Rodrigo Carrasco, regional director of Corfo Los Lagos. âThis is a real opportunity for an industrial solution which until a few months ago was only pursued abroad.
The contract between Camanchaca and Altum Lab is the first collaborative program of open innovation in salmon farming, according to Esteban RamÃrez, general manager of the Salmon Technological Institute (Intesal) of SalmonChile.
âThis prompts the whole industry and other activities in the south to trust open innovation, open up their problems and develop similar initiatives,â RamÃrez said. “We hope we have started a trend that will not stop.”
Indeed, the start-up culture and innovation seem to be taking hold in the aquaculture sector in Chile. Südlich Capital, a private investment fund manager in Puerto Varas, Chile, in the south of the country, started to raise up to $ 21 million (17.6 million euros) of capital for the Colonos I investment fund, with the objective of financing 10 start-ups with high potential focused on aquaculture. Colonos I is Südlich’s first venture capital fund, which is also to be supported by Corfo with two-to-one funding against contributions from investors.
Founded in 1965, Camanchaca currently has nearly 4,000 employees and exports to 60 countries. Each year, it harvests over 58,000 metric tonnes (MT) of whole fish equivalent of salmonids, unloads nearly 78,000 tonnes of horse mackerel and mackerel, and operates 111 salmon and mussel breeding centers, with USD 620 million. (EUR 522 million) in sales.
Photo courtesy of Maritech
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