Optimizing Output: How the BAADER 581 Pro came into being

When the dynamic back knife of the BAADER 581 Pro runs through a salmon it almost looks like guided by a human hand. And that is precisely what the engineers aspired to do when developing the knife. “We watched human hand filleting pros to see how finely and precisely they separate the fillet from the main bone by hand. Then the challenge was to do it as well – or even better”, says Mirko Pagels, who led the R&D team for the BAADER 581 Pro. “Depending on the fish’s anatomy, the knife is automatically adapted to the backbone. Individually, for every single fish.”

Every fish is different. They vary in size, quality, and firmness. Processing them in a static way leads to yield loss as the knife will run through the back meat at the same distance, not always close to the bone. “And nobody wants that, in the end, it is all about yield”, adds Mirko Pagels. So, when upgrading the BAADER 581 to the Pro version, one thing was clear: it needed to be fully automated and as flexible as possible to cut each fish according to its quality. Against this background, the development of the dynamic back knife was a real game-changer as it provides a great value add.

“Our goal is always to have as little remaining meat on the bone as possible”, says the mechanical engineer. “That is why during testing we do not actually look at the fillet, we look at the bone – or as we say, we read the bone and then adjust the machine accordingly.” That is how Mirko Pagels and his team make sure to always get the best possible result for the customer that can be achieved under production conditions.

To maximize quality, it is key that the fish always is centered on the saddle and transferred like this to the processing tools. That is where the process pressure comes into play, making sure the fish is always positioned in the correct way according to its quality. It then runs smoothly from one part of the process to the next one.

Via the Human-Machine-Interface (HMI), users can adjust all yield-relevant tools. The HMI touch display offers easy access to the machine parameters and service features. This includes the dynamic back knife, the belly knife, and the flank knife. While the belly and the back knives are oriented along the main bone and change the distance between the knives accordingly, the flank knife aims to cut precisely along the flank bones. The final tool is the separating knife, which separates the two fillet halves from the main bone.

Moreover, the integrated recipe management system allows customers to choose from a variety of combined parameters for a range of salmonids and qualities. These combined parameters can be saved and thus reused according to the customers’ needs. Any recipe can be quickly updated and changed during operation without further machine adjustments and process interruptions.

Mirko Pagels is in close exchange with a number of customers, to keep testing the performance of the machine and to keep it up to date according to the market requirements. “It is great to work so closely together with our customers”, he says. “These meetings are always very insightful and help us become even better.”

In fact, many of the BAADER 581 machines are upgradeable. As of BAADER 581 machine number 78, they can be retrofitted to the Pro version.