The breakdown work is carried out by Modern American Recycling Services which is part of the business cluster for companies with business focus on sustainability, which has established itself in Recycling City in the climate municipality of Frederikshavn.

Since September 2019, the port area in Frederikshavn has received the sea's largest workplaces when they are towed for scrapping and recycling. Offshore installations, platforms and the largest cargo ships are lovingly treated here - in the spirit of the environment and the fight against climate change.

M.A.R.S. Europe A/S is one of the largest players in the port area and represents growth with both climate action and job creation in North Jutland. M.A.R.S. Europe, which is a subsidiary of Modern American Recycling Services in the USA, has been the first in the world to build capacity to handle the giants of the sea. These are dismantled and recycled in a sustainable manner according to applicable environmental protocols. The shipyard at the port in Frederikshavn is the group's only one in Europe.

M.A.R.S. recovers steel, iron, plastic, tools and machines - but also all contents from residential platforms. (Archive photo: Flickr)

The company undertakes tasks within the environmentally sound recovery of maritime and offshore constructions, including cranes, cargo vessels and barges. With its capacity to handle 250,000 tonnes of steel per year, the yard has boosted job creation in Frederikshavn and the surrounding area. Retraining of the unemployed has been decidedly put into the system at local EUC Nord with a view to retraining the unemployed directly to M.A.R.S. Europe.

The workplace is carefully planned so that the strict environmental requirements are met. Enormous dimensions have been thought of during the construction of the recycling area. An underlying membrane is laid out throughout the area, which protects against seepage of harmful substances. On top of the membrane, 40 cm of bottom protection sand is laid, and on top 70 cm of compressed crushed rock. All surface water is collected in drainage ditches that lead the water to M.A.R.S.'s own treatment plant.

Manage equipment and resources

In connection with M.A.R.S. Europe has established itself in Denmark, the group's Danish branch has chosen Tracelink as a development partner for the part that deals with the work with digitizing the management of the yard's resources.

Tracelink's integration with e-conomic automates the workflows and gives the shipyard's accounting department a much easier everyday life when handling invoices and communicating with suppliers. Handling program-to-program integration was an important requirement for M.A.R.S. Here, Tracelink also offers the option of integration with the yard's website, which is under development and should be ready during 2022.

Tracelink was a natural choice for M.A.R.S., i.a. because the system's warehouse management and CRM modules, together with the general flexibility, go well in line with the company's needs. Director of M.A.R.S. Europe A/S, Kim Thygesen says that the introduction of the system's basic data has been relatively problem-free and has given rise to the necessary structure of workflows and processes.

It is also in Tracelink that the company manages the procurement and administration of the yard's operating materials and work clothes. With the lending of aids and tools to a growing workforce, which currently numbers 100 people, there is a lot of data to keep track of. The number of employees in Frederikshavn has grown from 10 to 100 employees in just a year and a half and is expected to grow further.

Example of lending protective equipment and tools in Tracelink.

Many of the yard's projects span several years, and the company has therefore had extra focus on obtaining the necessary employees and resources and on ensuring the distribution of approved tools, work clothes and necessary safety equipment for the tasks.

The yield of the shipyard's work with decomposition is, among other things, reusable machine and spare parts, all of which are registered and stored in Tracelink's sales warehouse. It is this warehouse that must be integrated into M.A.R.S.' website, making it easy for customers to find and order reusable components.

One step at a time

M.A.R.S. in the long term wants to utilize even more of the modules in Tracelink. This is where Tracelink's extensive experience in supporting companies' step-by-step digitization becomes important. As is the case with most of our clients, M.A.R.S. implements the digital solution while operations and production run at full blast.

M.A.R.S.'s work area in Frederikshavn is built up from below with membrane, sand and crushed rock, for to meet the special requirements for environmental protection. (Photo: M.A.R.S. Europe A/S)

November 2021