SCA helped Mytilimer, a leading seller of bouchot mussels, to reduce damage, packaging costs and storage area with the help of an automatic piling line. Moreover SCA’s solution reduced Mytilimer’s CO2 emissions by 22 tons.
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Mont-Saint-Michel is a rocky tidal island and an UNESCO World heritage site.
Mytilimer's mussels cling onto wooden poles in the seashore of Mont-Saint-Michel.
Mytilimer's new robotized packaging line.
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Controlled origin brand name
Mytilimer is located in Vivier sur Mer in Brittany, France. The company was founded in 2004 and employs 20 people. It produces 5 000 tons of mussels per year with a turnover of 15 million euros.
The name “bouchot” origins from the wooden poles in the seashore of the Mont-Saint-Michel bay, allowing the shells to cling onto. Bouchot mussels are the first seafood product with a controlled origin brand name (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée / A.O.C.).
There is an expanding growth in the seafood tray market and Mytilimer decided to build another production plant in Cancale.
Delicate freight
Mytilimer packs its production in sealed 1 to 2 kg plastic trays which are delivered in SCA cardboard boxes to selling points. But the tray cover and bottom can be damaged during the stacking of the pallets, aerating the mussles. Moreover it was labour intensive to assemble and fill the boxes, resulting in ergonomic problems.
So the company wanted to improve the design and effectiveness of their present crates.
Automatic tray piling decreased damage
Before moving to the new plant of Cancale, Mytilimer asked SCA switched to better boxes and robotized the packaging process.
“SCA’s team took into account my issues and shared their excellent knowledge in mechanization and robots. I particularly appreciated their assistance when we started speaking with mechanization suppliers which we were unfamiliar with” says Olivier Kerbiriou, Mytilimer. Furthermore, this solution enabled the shell producer to reduce their...
- cardboard purchasing costs by 19%
- consumption costs by 40%
- pallets handling costs by 48%
- storage area by 33%
- packaging weight by 16%
- CO2 emissions by 22 tons.
“In short, I am highly satisfied with process and outcome as well as the partnerships created between the different project members,” says Olivier Kerbiriou.
Text Evelyne Célérier / Konstantin C Irina Source www.scapackaging.com More information Evelyne Célérier (evelyne.celerier @ sca.com, phone +33 2 40 84 55 51)