AI-based decision support

Since 2020, Maritech has been cooperating closely with Møreforskning, Molde University College and Lerøy Seafood Group in the Norwegian Research Council founded project FishTraOpt, developing supply and demand planning tools utilizing AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Maritech’s Analytics BI (Business Intelligence) software for faster and more efficient distribution of fish. The goal is to provide valuable decision support for aquaculture companies when planning and allocating fish to sales orders.

“Aquaculture companies harvest large volumes of fish that vary in grades based on size and quality, and other factors such as Global Gap or other environmental or quality certifications,” says Oddvar Husby, VP Data Science in Maritech.

“The production, allocation and logistics processes are characterized by a high degree of complexity and uncertainty. Fish are sold prior to the fish being harvested. This means that the actual size and quality of the harvest available to sell is not known exactly. The products that will be available to be allocated to sales, are initially based on projected forecasts until the actual harvest details are known.”

Complex processes

“In addition to the potential variation in volume and quality of the harvested fish itself, which are supplied from multiple fish farms and regions, there are also multiple customers with a variety of sales agreements, all of whom may have different quality, volume, product form, and contractual requirements that must be met. Logistical shipping and product allocation planning decisions must be made very quickly as the product is fresh and any unforeseen delays can result in quality degradation.

As there is never a perfect match between supply and demand, it is not always possible to deliver to customers exactly what has been sold. Once the harvest figures are known, sales quantity and prices must often be rapidly renegotiated, and the shipping planned for, in a very short time period.”

Maritech is now building all new software in Microsoft Azure, where our solutions are delivered as Software as a Service (SaaS); subscription-based services – in our self-developed cloud platform DigitalSeafood.

“We always choose to use the latest technology and will always be at the forefront – best-of-breed, both in terms of functionality and user-friendliness. Microsoft Azure gives us the opportunities, flexibility and security we need to be at the top of the world and means that customers get the maximum benefit from choosing a cloud solution from us,” says Bjørnar Kvalsnes.

“Through Azure, we can use advanced Microsoft tools in the development of our own software, and we use Microsoft’s infrastructure and expertise to operate and deliver our solutions to customers worldwide. It is easy to scale the number of users and capacity up / down as needed, we can guarantee the uptime – and most importantly, very high security. Every year, Microsoft spends 1 billion dollars on investments in security, it illustrates how much stronger we are with such a solid partner.”

It is not only internally at Maritech that the team is praised. This autumn, an external consulting company conducted an evaluation of the architecture, the department and the methodology. The conclusion was very positive.

“They stated that we are a top tier team, and they were impressed by the work that has been done,” Kvalsnes concludes. “A great recognition of a very talented team and the effort that is put in every single day.”