Abilio Fernandez has taken the thing to his heart. “I eventually named it Harry, although I’m not sure if it’s male or female,” jokes the managing director of the company based in Palma’s Son Castelló industrial park, “Hieloen Cubitas”, while Harry is holding a pallet with 400 kilos of frozen ice into a corner of the cargo area. A piece of cake for the three-meter-high, orange robot-Arm, whose task is to collect packaged Ice cube bags to stack in the storage room.
Die Production in the factory fully automaticbut must be permanently monitored. “The system comes from the USA, where the best Ice machines “It comes from somewhere else,” Fernández reveals proudly. He is less satisfied with the water from Palma’s municipal waterworks, Emaya. “It is supposedly safe for human consumption. I doubt that,” says the boss and then points to an apparatus further back in the hall. It is a Osmosis systemwhich treats the water supplied by Emaya, removing any organic and chemical residues.
Only then is it pumped into the upper part of the plant, poured into the desired shape and then shock-frozenThe individual cubes are then transported to the respective filling or packaging machines via a conveyor belt. Roboter Harry stacks the ice cube bags on pallets, which are then taken to the storage room. “We do not produce for daily business, but for wholesalers. We supply other ice factories or distribution companies with our goods,” explains Fernández. The current Stock comprises about 600,000 ice cube bags of two kilograms each. “That corresponds to about three million ice cubes”.
Of course, not all ice cubes are the same. “We are currently producing three types Firstly, the classic dice in conical shape, which weighs between 38 and 40 grams. But I also have Tube ice creamwhich is cylindrical and weighs about 70 grams. And finally the Crush-Icewhich is especially suitable for cocktails,” explains Fernández, while the author of these lines and his photographer colleague’s fingers slowly become stiff. The temperature in the factory’s six large depots is between 12 and 18 degrees Celsius below zero. So there is no reason to linger here even a second longer.
“Our company is the oldest ice cream factory in Spain”, claims the managing director. It was founded in 1972 by the entrepreneur Miguel Frau, who had the entire plant brought to Mallorca after a visit to the USA. The fact that the ice cube brand was later given the name Sahy goes back to a trip the Mallorcan made to China. “The name of a place in the Middle Kingdom that I couldn’t pronounce at some point made Miguel Frau come up with the name Sahy. Actually, it’s not worth mentioning,” says Fernández.
Die Fabric has continued to grow over the past few years automated “There used to be more than 20 employees working here, today there are just seven.”
Between middle November and end of March will the Production driven to zero“We are using the time to repair and maintain the machines. Thanks to our high inventory levels and the falling demand, we have to No ice in winter months to produce.
Whether this year, like 2022, will see a rise in the number of heat waves there could be another shortage of ice cubes on the island? “No, two years ago there was news of a possible Shortage somehow got into circulation and people started buying and hoarding ice cubes in bulk, just like they did during the Corona period. As long as there is water, there will be ice cubes,” says Fernández.
The production of the cubes is not a big business. Or at least not as much as it used to be, he puts it into perspective. “There are a handful of ice factories on the island, the majority of which have their own distribution for hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations or private individuals. That is a Huge effortwhich in my opinion hardly profitable anymoreAs a wholesaler with year-round stock, we have no distribution costs, but with the increasing Electricity prices to fight,” says Fernández. He has to shell out up to 30,000 euros a month for the electric cooling of his system, plus the cost of thousands of plastic bags, which, due to Spanish food regulations, can only consist of a maximum of 30 percent recyclable PVC. And then there are the personnel costs.
Except for Harry. “He never asks for vacation or a pay rise. I like him, he’s a real cool guy”, says Fernández and has to laugh.
