How Infraspeak is helping Flatlantic reach 16,000 tonnes/year of turbot and sole

About Flatlantic

Operating in Mira, in the district of Coimbra, Portugal, Flatlantic is an international benchmark in the aquaculture sector, producing 3000 tonnes of turbot every year. Of its 200 employees, 15 are assigned to the maintenance area, supporting the entire equipment park.

Going through a phase of development and growth, Flatlantic intends, within 15-20 years, to increase its asset park from 50 to around 80 hectares and see its flatfish production grow to 16,000 tonnes/year.

The Challenges

Poor digitalisation and centralisation of processes

• All maintenance management was done using an ERP combined with Excel and paper;

• These methods favoured human error and did not make it possible to optimise existing resources;

Lack of skilled manpower

• The shortage of specialised human resources required a solution that optimised the performance of existing technicians;

Ambitious business growth plan

• Aim to increase the asset park to 80 hectares;

• Aim to produce 16,000 tonnes of flatfish a year.

An intelligent (and boneless!) platform.

In order to meet the growth and innovation goals that had been set, namely increasing its equipment fleet and modernising its operations (using IoT, integrations and condition/usage-based maintenance), Flatlantic needed to invest in a solution that would not only meet these challenges, but would also evolve with the business over time. It was important that this new system could turn data into relevant reports, with insights and suggestions for concrete actions; connect teams and assets, centralise information and automate tasks, optimising resource allocation.

However, not all maintenance management tools available on the market are intelligent, flexible, collaborative and comprehensive enough to fulfil these objectives. More than software, a platform was needed that offered intuitive interfaces, information accessible from anywhere; state-of-the-art technological features — such as AI and IoT — as well as high integration and sharing capacity, to make the operation fluid and transparent.

Flatlantic therefore chose Infraspeak, which also guaranteed a smooth implementation and no need to put the operation on hold. And the benefits are already visible: total control over processes, better allocation and optimisation of resources and the conditions to scale the business in a sustainable, gradual way. These results were obtained by automating various tasks, such as maintenance planning, recording occurrences, scheduling work orders and assigning technicians according to their specific skills. The interoperability of the operation's critical systems with Infraspeak also makes it possible to create alerts whenever equipment malfunctions occur.

With Infraspeak, the company is succeeding in realising its concept of an efficient and sustainable business, both operationally and environmentally, and the common wish is that this partnership will enable Flatlantic to cement its leadership position in the market and achieve its goals.