Keeping up with the Ocean's Bounty

Atlantic Sea Farms’ founders created the first commercially-viable seaweed farm in the United States in 2009, with the goal of diversifying how coastal waters are used and providing a domestic, fresh, healthy alternative to imported seaweed products. Atlantic Sea Farms’ woman-led team of eighteen operate a processing facility in Biddeford where they create a wide variety of healthy food products with products sourced from Maine farmers and fishing families.

Atlantic Sea Farms experienced a sharp decline in orders from restaurant and retail accounts hit hard by the pandemic. Despite these challenges, the team remained committed to fulfilling the harvest contracts they had with local fishermen and lobstermen and staying on track with their strategic growth goals. As a result, the 2021 harvest proved too large for their current processing space. Atlantic Sea Farms CEO Briana Warner contacted Maine MEP, part of the MEP National Network™, for help planning an efficient expansion plan that would create space for growth.

Maine MEP project manager Bill Whittier worked with the Atlantic Sea Farms team to develop a plan for a new facility with hugely expanded processing space. Using the systematic layout planning process and lean manufacturing principles, Bill Whittier took the team through a process to chart relationships between the processing activities, plan space for each activity and adjust the relationships and space to develop an efficient layout plan. The new facility and layout plan has been designed and constructed to allow for not only the current processing needs but also future growth.