Automated and optimized planning for suppliers of seafood

Suppliers of farmed fish buy from many producers and sell to many customers, they also decide how the fish should be transported from supplier to buyer. There is never a perfect match between supply and demand, so the traders have to make the best possible allocation of the available fish to the customers' demand. This allocation considers factors like raw material size, certifications, customer priority, customer flexibility, contract obligations, prices, and logistics. Today, both matching of supply and demand and selection of transportation alternatives are done manually, which takes a lot of time and most likely lead to suboptimal solutions. The goal in the FishTraOpt project is to provide decision support for automated and optimized planning for suppliers in aquaculture. Maritech is a Molde-based company which offers software solutions, including ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems, to the seafood industry, and Lerøy Seafood Group is one of Norway's largest seafood producers. In this project, Møreforsking Molde and Molde University College will perform research to support Maritech and Lerøy in developing solutions for this planning problem, based on input from both Maritech as a software company and Lerøy Seafood as an industrial actor who knows the problem from their daily work in fish production and trading. The project has developed an algorithm/prototype which suggests an assignment of available fish to orders. All requirements with respect to certificates/approvals/health conditions are taken into consideration, and the customers' requests with respect to quantities and distribution into weight classes are met as good as possible within the limits of available fish. We are looking into the possibility of setting up a test version at Lerøy during the final part of the project, in addition we are working on algorithmic improvements to assign more of the available fish. When the project ends, the prototype is installed and ready for testing at Lerøy.

Actual outcomes: A prototype/test version is developed and ready for testing at Lerøy. Potential outcomes: Maritech will improve and develop the prototype, with the goal of implementing and including the project results as a new module/section of Maritech's ERP system for the seafood industry.

The general idea of the FishTraOpt project is to provide decision support for automated and optimized planning for suppliers of seafood. Decision support systems are important strategic tools for maintaining and further developing the competitiveness of the Norwegian fishery and aquaculture industry. There is a need both to get a better overview of the logistical challenges currently facing the Norwegian fishery and aquaculture industry, and to find better solutions for some of the logistic functions in the supply chains, which are currently based on manual planning and suboptimal solutions. Digitalization (automation) and optimization (reengineering) of all types of logistic processes (i.e. logistics management) must take place in collaboration with customers, and can thus be developed as a competitive advantage for Norwegian companies. Suppliers of seafood buy fish from many suppliers and sell to many customers, and organise transport of the fish from supplier to buyer. Typically, fish of a given size and quality is allocated to customers before the actual supply is known, and a re-allocation must be performed once the actual supply is known. The allocation considers factors like raw material size, certifications, customer priority, customer flexibility, contract obligations, prices, and logistics. Today, both matching of supply and demand and selection of transportation alternatives are done manually, which takes a lot of time and most likely lead to suboptimal solutions. Maritech Systems is a major provider of ERP systems for the seafood industry, and Lerøy Seafood Group is a world-leading seafood corporation whose core business is production of salmon and trout. These two companies, with Møreforsking Molde and Molde University College as research partners, will work together in this project to develop decision support for suppliers of seafood.