Silver Seafood

Premium quality shellfish

In idyllic Midsund, you find Silver Seafood, one of Norway’s leading suppliers of shellfish.

Their specialty is langoustine – exported live to the whole world and to a few, exclusive recipients in Norway.

After Maritech Purchase & Sales was launched in the autumn of 2019, Silver Seafood was one of the first customers to adopt the system in the whitefish industry. They had been using Maritech Packing from the very beginning of their operations and saw the need to digitize even more processes.

Michelin and Bocuse d’Or

Silver Seafood was founded in 2012 by Jim Martin Sørlie and Preben Godø, and today operates wholesale, landing, production and packing – specializing in export of fish and shellfish, primarily to premium, high-end markets within the USA, Asia, and Europe.

To ensure freshness and top quality, they have partnered with several local fishermen who deliver their catch directly to the Silver Seafood quay.

Silver Seafood’s langoustine are fished by about 10 boats throughout the year. The vast majority are exported abroad, with the exception of some very special customers in Norway, including the Michelin star restaurant Speilsalen in Trondheim, and the prestigious Bocuse d’Or world championship for chefs. The Silver Seafood team has specialized in live packing, and also trains the fishermen to ensure the most gentle handling of the catch.

“It is an art in itself to bring the Langoustine to the US, as live and as well as when it is first taken out of the sea,” says Preben Godø, Production Manager/Owner.

“It takes focus and long experience. We have been fishermen ourselves and know that there are small margins and a demanding way of life. We have also developed a gentle packing method that calms and de-stresses the crayfish. This handling method is unique.”

Margins and documentation

“Before, there was always a large stack of papers on Jim Martin’s desk,” says Maja Håbet, Communications Manager. “We manually printed out gold certification tags and expanded from there to make sure that all the documentation was included. This was a labor-intensive task. The main goal of the Purchase & Sales implementation was, initially, to get all the information into the orders. You can never have too much documentation.”

“We also work a lot with margins in the system and find that it is an important strength. And it is a great advantage that everything is gathered in one place and easy to get hold of and track.”

A new level of flexibility

In the middle of the Maritech Purchase & Sales implementation, Silver Seafood established its wholesale business, and is now a local wholesaler in Møre and Romsdal, in collaboration with Lerøy Seafood Group. Silver Seafood Engros adopted the new cloud solutions first, and now they are core tools for the entire company.

“There have been some challenges along the way, as we were one of the first customers,” Maja continues.

“Now we are generally very pleased with the functionality and the workflow in the system. We have gained a whole new level of flexibility, both through the built-in tools for communication and collaboration, and through the process support and documentation the system offers,” says Jim Martin Sørlie.

An investment in tools for the future

“Now we can pick all the boxes anywhere, anytime, 24/7 – which is obviously very convenient when working in many different time zones. Drivers can do everything on the ferry, all the drivers bring PCs with them on the road.”

As part of the Maritech Purchase & Sales implementation, Silver Seafood has also adopted Maritech Document Services and Analytics, for better document flow and control. The latter is also used to simplify reporting.

“Our investment in this system is really an investment in tools for the future, and it has changed a lot of the way we work,” Sørlie concludes.