September 24, 2014

Marel appoints head of global innovation

Marel has appointed Vidar Erlingsson as Head of Global Innovation, a newly created position.

The Head of Global Innovation will become a member of Marel's Executive Team and report directly to Arni Oddur Thordarson, chief executive officer of Marel.

Thordarson said, "This appointment reflects Marel's ongoing commitment to innovation. As Head of Global Innovation, Vidar will be responsible for driving and implementing the global innovation vision and strategy of Marel across the organisation, prioritising further innovation activities and shorten the 'time to market'." "In addition to increased yield and throughput, Marel solutions increase quality, safety and sustainability of food processing."

Erlingsson is 39 years old and is an experienced manager of innovative teams with a proven record of entrepreneurial leadership. He was instrumental in developing the Sensor X technology within Marel and played a key role in bringing the solution to commercial success. The Sensor X plays essential role in increasing food safety and quality as many of the most forward looking global food processors use the solution to detect bones and other contaminants. The technology is now moving into other areas such as minced meat fat analyzes and control unit in precise cutting of poultry, meat and fish.

Vidar has a M.Sc. degree in engineering from DTU in Denmark and a B.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Iceland. He has been with Marel's innovation team for the last 14 years thereof heading the Product Center Inspection for the last 4 years.