Firex Success Story: Ferguson Australia

We recently had the chance to revisit the esteemed facilities of Ferguson Australia in South Australia, award winning, innovative seafood processors and exporters and one of our many Firex success stories.

Back in 2017, The Ferguson Group were looking for a specific type of appliance that would aide in the production of their innovative lobster range and established contact with us about our range of Firex commercial food processing equipment.

After consultation and testing of the processes involved it was the Firex range of Fixpan pasteurisers that were selected. These fixed industrial pans are capable of cooking large quantities of food in water with industrial precision and efficiency.

“With capacities ranging from 100 to 550 litres and multiple heating types, the 200 litre, indirect electric heating PFIE200 was chosen”

During the consultation period we also learned about how the product is made. The process involves cooking the product in natural sea water so the equipment would need to be manufactured with this in mind.

“With the help and guidance of the Firex designers and engineers in Italy, it was agreed that we would need to customise the build of the appliance to include marine grade stainless steel to counter the high salt content of the cooking process and environment in which it would be installed”

During our visit we were given a guided factory tour by the team at Ferguson Australia and were able to inspect the pasteuriser to see for ourselves how it was holding up. The team at Ferguson Australia could not be happier with the performance and reliability of the appliance and are now looking into expanding their operations with additional units.

We at Scots Ice Australia would like to thank the Ferguson Australia team for their hospitality and graciousness during our visit.

A bit about Ferguson Australia

“The family business started in 1969 when Robert Ferguson commenced fishing for Southern Rock Lobster in the South East of South Australia, after a career change from farming to fishing. His son Andrew Ferguson continued the fishing business in 1980, adding further fishing vessels to the fishing operations – Ferguson Fisheries.

In 1999, Andrew and Debra Ferguson (founders of Ferguson Australia) identified an opportunity in the Southern Rock Lobster industry, to add value to the abundant supply of larger lesser valued lobsters, while exporting the smaller sized lobsters on the international market. Andrew and Debra saw a need to utilise these larger lobsters to not only receive a better price for the fishermen but also keep the industry sustainable. Andrew and Debra went on to develop their award winning innovative lobster range produced from larger sized lobsters and in 2003 established the brand “Ferguson Australia” to manufacture and market this premium range of seafood.

Today, the Ferguson Group is a third generation seafood company encompassing seven family members working in the family business, managing many facets across the business, including Ferguson’s fishing fleet, export, international offices and Australian retail / wholesale trade.”

– www.fergusonaustralia.com

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