Programme: Maritime and Fisheries Programme

The company ELMET EOOD, VAT reg. № 112030073,  was established in 1998 in the town of Panaguyrishte with headquarter at 15 Shipka street. Since 2012 the Company has started a Recirculation Aquaculture Facility for growing African Catfish with a capacity of more than 300 tons of live fish per year. In 2013 a Processing facility was open next to the Farm for processing the grown African Catfish. 
In order to optimize the process of breeding the African Catfish and to reduce losses from the feeding routine, Elmet EOOD plans to purchase and install a Robot Feeding System from the Finnish company Arvo Tec. The company has almost 40 years in the aquaculture field.
The robotic feeding system has the following advantages over feeding by hand, which is currently practiced in the farm:
-	Improved nutrition effectiveness;
-	Saves time and workload of the staff;
-	Gives ability to quickly change the daily feeding amount,  based on water temperature, oxygen content, and biomass;
-	Allows feeding with different  feed sizes - for fry and fattening;
-	Give a remote access to the entire system;
-	Gives possibility of online tracking of food availability and reports preparation.
-	Shortens the feed way from the warehouse to the fish, which leads to reduced losses of food by mechanical crushing and a decreased content of particles in the water;
-	Improved feed absorption through optimization of the feeding periods and thus leading to an improved growing rate of the farmed African Catfish.
In introducing the Robot Feeding System, Elmet EOOD. does not plan staff reductions. The attention of the workers, responsible for the feeding process, will be transferred form the slow and ineffective hand feeding to maintenance and supply of the robot, as in the process time and effort will be saved and the results will be better.