Award is icing on the cake for salmon farming IT engineer

David Lipcsey was working as a supervisor at SSF’s processing and packing facility in Scalloway, Shetland when he spotted the potential for improvement.

Combining his experience in processing with his programming skills, he developed new software to accurately count the number of fish coming into the harvest station.

This enables the processing team to adjust the flow when necessary to minimise stress and maximise animal welfare.

Used daily

“It’s a real honour to be named Digital Professional of the Year,” said Lipcsey, who also celebrates his 30^th birthday today.

“When I first came up with the idea, I never thought it would gain traction so quickly. It’s great to see the software being used on a daily basis, as well as being rewarded for it. Such appreciation really provides motivation to push on with new ideas.”

In what’s believed to be a first in Scottish salmon farming, Lipcsey programmed software that was able to capture images of the flow of fish by ‘listening’ to signals from the harvesting system.

He then took this data and put it on to an app. The app feeds the information back to the wellboat, where the skipper can see on a tablet exactly how many fish are going into the harvest station at any given time and increase or reduce the flow as necessary to ensure a smooth flow, minimise stress and enhance fish welfare.

More to come

Having since transferred to the company's IT team, Lipcsey is now adapting his app technology into a broader product that covers more aspects of processing.

“I’m delighted for David that he has won this award. It's a tremendous achievement for him and recognition for the project he has worked hard to deliver,” said SSF’s head of IT David Anderson in a press release.

“David joined our team last year and, in that time, has proven to be a motivated professional, developing and delivering digital solutions across the business.”