Marel has completed the sale of a powerful information system to food producers Pacific Andes for use in their immense production centre in Qingdao, Shandong Province in China. Marel Food Systems has followed up by opening a Chinese office to raise awareness of its presence in that market and better service their current Chinese customers.

Pacific Andes, headquartered in Hong Kong, is the largest seafood company in China.  The system Pacific Andes will install from Marel is a production monitoring system consisting of software and scales. Over 3,200 of the plant’s employees will use the system in their work. Similar systems from Marel are in use all over the world. Their function is to maximize utilization of raw materials during fish processing.

“We have put a lot of work into finding the best solutions for our industrial unit. This showed us that Marel is a leading, world-class company in the production of high technology equipment for food production that we can totally trust them to fulfill our wishes. At the same time, we hope that Marel opens its first office in China as soon as possible, to ensure continuing service. That will be important for the future of our partnership because of time differences and distances,” said Ng Joo Kwee, Pacific Andes Executive Director.

“You could say that this deal is a milestone in a number of ways and we hope that many new opportunities in this massive and growing market will follow in its wake. We believe that this deal is an indication of increasing interest in the food sector in China, and in improving utilization of raw materials, production efficiency and the quality of products. We have considerable specialist knowledge at our disposal and can offer even more powerful solutions built on Icelandic inventiveness and know-how,” said Kristmann Kristmannsson, a Marel industrial fishing consultant.

Pacific Andes’ principal gain from the installation will be the implementation of Marel Production Software (MPS). This will allow managers to closely monitor the day-to-day production process, react quickly when better options present themselves and thereby improve utilization, efficiency and production quality.
“Marel now has 60 people working on the development of systems and technological software. MPS system software has been in development for over ten years and as you will understand, a huge amount of work and knowledge has gone into the software. The Pacific Andes Board recognizes this, and has faith in MPS. They will adopt the latest version, which supports Chinese characters,” said Jens Bjarnason, Manager of Marel’s Software Group.

The installation of the system in the new industrial complex, employing over 13,000 people, will begin in November 2007. The first phase of Marel’s information system is expected to be brought into use at the same time, although delivery will be in three stages. Marel will also provide Pacific Andes with all necessary services related to the system. Marel Food System's new office in Qingdao will service Pacific Andes and continue marketing work in Chinese markets.