Member Article

PP nets first ever Icelandic deal

A leading West Midlands manufacturer has secured a major contract to support one of Iceland’s key suppliers to the fishing sector.

PP Control & Automation, which employs 230 people at its state-of-the-art factory in Walsall, is providing Hedinn with early-stage design support and electrical control systems build for the production of its Hedinn Protein Plant (HPP).

These revolutionary machines make fishmeal and fish oil production on land or sea more economical and efficient than previously possible and are already installed in Icelandic vessel Solberg and German vessel Berlin, who are both reporting 100% utilisation of fish proteins and oil.

In addition, projects are well advanced for installs in such places as the Faroe Islands and the United States for processing produce including lobster shells.

“We are seeing a significant trend in larger machine builders focusing on strategic outsourcing, in order to help increase production capacity, improve production and sales lead times and create a competitive advantage with respect to time to market and scalability,” explained Tony Hague, Managing Director of PP Control & Automation.

“Hedinn is another example of the strategic partnerships we are looking to create and we are delighted to have secured a contract to play a role in delivering next generation machinery for the fishing sector…our first foray into this industry.”

He continued: “Working with engineers in Iceland, we have developed the design of the control systems and are currently supporting our client in standardising a number of the manufacturing processes to help with meeting anticipated volume increases once the market fully embraces HPP.

“We have also introduced one of our technical partners Rockwell, who are assisting in the further technical development of the process and supply chain.”

The Hedinn Protein Plant is based on decades of experience in the fisheries and fishmeal production industries, with all conventional fishmeal plants currently in operation in Iceland having been constructed or upgraded by the company.

Available in different size configurations, the HPP is a turnkey plant with transportable components ready for on-site assembly on land or at sea. It runs on electricity and steam, providing a clean, efficient and highly adjustable operation.

Ragnar Sverrisson, Managing Director of Hedinn, went on to add: “This technology dictated a new partner that could provide advanced controls and automation assembly and design expertise and wanted to be involved from the start.

“We couldn’t have done it in-house so we started to look for strategic partners and PP Control & Automation were easily the most suitable and had the same passion we had for the product. It is also very familiar with UL compliance, which could be very useful when targeting the US and North American markets.

“There is massive potential for HPP and our volumes will increase rapidly. This partnership gives us the skills, capability and capacity to meet the anticipated demand.”

PP Control & Automation turned 50 years-old in September 2017 and marked the occasion by securing £2m of new contracts.

It has grown into one of the world’s largest and most respected suppliers of electrical control systems and sub-contract manufacturing solutions to customers involved in the machine tools, packaging, printing, medical, pharma, scientific and food processing sectors.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .