Field Reports

IT System Helps Seafood Processor Handle Traceability, Logistics

track and trace — Norfisk stock sold in multiple countries has full traceability with an IT solution from CSB-System.

*Photos courtesy of CSB-System*

stock in warehouse — The system uses mobile data capture for fish processor Norfisk to eliminate errors, such as loading product with an incorrect sell-by date.

Fish processing company Norfisk is using an IT solution from CSB-System to handle sales and logistics for four countries from a single operation in northern Germany.

The system, which handles 40,000 pallets annually for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, provides full traceability and ensures compliance with EU food information regulations.

It covers the entire operation from goods and stock receiving through packaging and labeling to final shipping, including invoice management and evaluation, such as gross margin.

Other benefits include reductions in buffer storage requirements and error rates during picking.

Norfisk is a brand of Suempol, one of Europe’s top 10 salmon smokeries, based in Eastern Poland. As part of the company’s own IT system there, all product details are recorded and linked to a lot number, which is subsequently visible on the packaging as bar codes. This enables the full traceability of goods throughout the production and distribution process.

At the German cold storage warehouse in Wismar, Mecklenburg, the use of scanners for picking means that errors during the customer-specific collection of items are now virtually zero, as are incidents of loading goods with an incorrect sell-by date. Electronic delivery notes indicate if anything is missing.

The system also supports a differentiated purchasing strategy, with sales statistics provided for items, periods and customers, and optionally for a specific segment or product range. This enables Norfisk to carry out more accurate planning and forecasting.

“In the past, we had a product buffer of 30 to 40 percent,” explains sales manager Günter Rees. “These were the goods that we had to have on stock. Now, we have reduced the buffer to 5 percent. Thanks to the CSB-System, 90 percent of the products are just-in-time goods that we produced no more than 24 hours ago.”

As a result, Norfisk can supply product to food retailers on a daily basis, with an order lead time of two days.

Via interface converters, Norfisk’s IT system is also connected to the IT systems of its retail customers. This simplifies workflows and makes information, including incoming orders, outgoing invoices, delivery and goods received notifications, easily accessible. Delivery data is supplied to the logistics company the day before, and incoming goods inspection at the customers’ locations is also carried out electronically by scanners.

For more information, visit www.csb.com/en