Automated Processing Lines Address Labor Deficiencies in Seasonal Food Manufacturing

 
Application area: Food processing automation and digital factory integration
Industry sector: Seafood manufacturing and industrial food packaging

The fish processing company Ubago Group has initiated a long-term modernization project at its Spanish manufacturing facilities to automate its high-volume smoked salmon and whitefish production lines. The integration addresses serious labor supply shortages within regional tourist hubs, which typically restrict the recruitment of seasonal operators during peak production periods. To stabilize manufacturing capacity, maintain high end-product consistency, and preserve its domestic and export market share, the company has replaced manual preparation workflows with an automated, interconnected filleting and packaging ecosystem supplied by JBT Marel.

Manual Deheading Variability and Seasonal Labor Demands
Traditional, non-automated fish processing lines rely heavily on manual labor for the critical initial preparation phases. Operators must manually handle deheading and filleting, which introduces human performance variability. Minor cutting deviations directly lower raw material yields, resulting in significant cumulative material waste when processing high-value species like salmon.

This operational model becomes unsustainable during peak production cycles due to high regional competition for seasonal workers, causing severe labor deficits on the factory floor. Additionally, manual slicing, portion batching, and retail packaging struggle to meet tight weight tolerances, leading to product giveaway and reduced line efficiency under high-throughput conditions.

Vision-Guided Deheading and Salmon Filleting Mechanics
To eliminate cutting variances and labor dependencies, the technical setup integrates specialized mechanical units with vision-guided automation systems. The synchronized processing line operates through distinct mechanical stages:

Integrated Production Software and Real-Time Telemetry Tracking
The physical hardware lines are connected to a centralized factory monitoring and control software platform. By layering this digital control system over the active mechanical assets, the facility compiles real-time telemetry from every processing station.

The AXIN Salmon Filleting Process Solution software utilizes vision-based monitoring to track fish weights, processing speed, and yield calculations across both Spanish production sites. This digital integration allows management to maintain operational oversight from a single interface, ensuring uniform quality parameters and facilitating structured change management as operators transition between automated production modules.

Material Yield Optimization and Automated Traceability Compliance
The technical transition to vision-guided machinery has optimized the raw material yield per fish by utilizing precise, sensor-driven cutting paths. Automating these repetitive material handling workflows allows the manufacturer to increase overall throughput without increasing operator headcounts.

Furthermore, the integration of the factory management software automates end-to-end product traceability by logging processing metrics at every station. This electronic data collection simplifies compliance tracking for strict domestic and export food safety regulations, shortens the time required for quality auditing, and lowers product giveaway through precise target weight slicing.

Edited by Sucithra Mani, Induportals editor – adapted by AI.

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