Norsk Kylling: on the way to the world's best food value chain

Animal welfare and operational responsibility are top priorities for Norsk Kylling. To support these values, the company partnered with Columbus to deploy Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage. This ERP system is central to its mission of creating the world’s best food value chain. 

Norsk Kylling, owned by the grocery chain REMA 1000, operates in central Norway, with 133 farmers forming the foundation of its operations as producers of eggs, hatching hens, and broilers. Each year, the company supplies approximately 81 million dinners to Norwegian consumers under the Solvinge brand. 

“Our aim is to create the world’s best value chain for food production, where good animal welfare for the chickens is a key factor,” says Kjell Stokbakken, CEO of Norsk Kylling. 

“A chicken that has better living conditions and feels better, tastes better,” adds Torfinn Utne, IT Manager at Norsk Kylling. “The best possible animal welfare and responsibility throughout the value chain are central to our strategy. To succeed, we depend on smart systems and accessible, accurate management information, provided by the digital foundation that seamlessly collects and structures large amounts of data.” 

First to achieve ECC international standard

In August 2022, Norsk Kylling became the world’s first producer to meet the European Chicken Commitment (ECC) standard. This achievement means that chickens enjoy more space in the barn, access to daylight through windows and lights with a daylight spectrum, and other welfare improvements. Additionally, Norsk Kylling has chosen a slower-growing chicken breed compared to other Norwegian chickens, resulting in more active birds with a higher quality of life. 

“Animal welfare and sustainability were key considerations when we selected a new chicken breed in 2017, and these values have become even more important to today’s consumers,” says Torfinn Utne, IT Manager at Norsk Kylling. “This is why we continue to ensure that our digital support systems work optimally across our work processes and business – particularly within the triangle of ERP, factory management systems, and reporting. Our focus on responsibility at every stage requires complete control over the value chain.” 

Norsk Kylling places significant emphasis on sustainability, conducting life-cycle analyses of its entire value chain to ensure its methods have a demonstrable positive impact on the environment. 

“The analysis shows that switching to a slower-growing chicken breed has significantly improved animal welfare without increasing the carbon footprint of the value chain,” Utne adds. 

Successfully deployed ERP project

Norsk Kylling has successfully implemented Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage, a standardised multi-tenant cloud ERP solution without the need for additional industry customisations. The solution comes with pre-configured settings tailored specifically for the food industry. 

Per Christian Øen, Business Solutions Director at Columbus, highlights the strategic choice to invest in a standard industry solution. “The advantage of this approach is that Norsk Kylling avoids the need for major upgrades every four years. Now, everything stays up to date. Security, disaster recovery, scalability – these are all handled by Infor, which invests significant resources into these areas, allowing Norsk Kylling to focus on what they do best.” 

Utne describes the project as complex but highly successful. “Even though we chose a standardised ERP solution from Infor, it’s important to recognise that this has been an interdisciplinary digitalisation process across the entire organisation. At the same time, we had to maintain management information from a relatively complex value chain.” 

“Columbus has delivered a successful digitalisation project on time and within budget,” Utne adds. “Their combination of solid industry insight, a deep understanding of who we are and where we are headed, and their expertise in the Infor solution has been key to our success.” 

Digital control from farm to table

The ERP system enables seamless management of information across the hatchery, slaughterhouse, and the purchase and sale of eggs and chickens. It forms the foundation for tracking and documentation, allowing precise control over inventory and reducing waste. Additionally, it enhances production planning to adapt to changing market demands. 

“In the past, much of the information was collected and handled manually, which was time-consuming and prone to errors,” says Øen. “Now, the entire tracking chain is visualised – from hatching egg production to the hatchery, broiler production, and the final chicken dishes found on store shelves. Production is tracked and documented in real-time, from the final product all the way back to the chicken farmers, allowing quick documentation and tracking of transactions from farm to table.” 

Torfinn Utne emphasises the ethical responsibility this system supports, from animal welfare to product quality. “We work closely with individual farmers to maintain animal welfare and quality. This collaboration allows us to safely receive 55,000 chickens at the processing plant every morning,” Utne says. 

Updated in the cloud

“ERP operation in the cloud differs significantly from on-premises systems, and we’re now securing strong management routines for cloud operations,” says Utne. “For example, we require ongoing recommendations on which upgrades of preconfigured settings to enable or disable. The goal is to continuously strengthen our improvement and innovation projects, and Columbus helps us stay current and make informed digital decisions.” 

Are Denstad, Norsk Kylling's Director of Finance and Business Development, highlights the importance of digitalisation in supporting the company’s overall strategy. 

“We’ve focused heavily on executing projects while integrating technology into our organisation. This required broad involvement across all parts of the organisation, with project responsibilities distributed at all levels. In daily operations, we rely on efficient solutions with minimal errors to maintain a secure and resource-efficient workflow,” says Denstad.

Nature-neutral company by 2030

Norsk Kylling is committed to becoming a nature-neutral company by 2030. The new slaughterhouse and processing plant at Orkanger, opened in 2021, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 100 percent. The facility utilises an energy mix that includes waste heat from nearby industry, solar energy, and seawater cooling. 

The plant also features thermal energy storage, smart energy management, and optimised energy procurement. Its tall, compact design minimises the physical footprint while maximising energy efficiency. 

The sustainability efforts extend beyond the plant. The chicken transport system will transition from diesel to biogas, with a dedicated filling station at Støren. Additionally, Reitan Kapital, the investment arm of Norsk Kylling’s parent company, has taken ownership of feed producer Pronofa, which is developing sustainable chicken feed. 

Each farmer has access to a climate calculator that provides an overview of greenhouse gas emissions from farm operations. This tool helps farmers identify opportunities to reduce emissions and optimise resource use for more sustainable production.