CHILE – Belgian-based Tomra Food, a manufacture of sensor-based sorting machines and post-harvest solutions for the food industry, has opened new regional headquarters in Chile, in an effort to enhance its support of food processors and packers across Latin America.
Located in Santiago, the new 810 square-metre building enables Tomra Food and its two sister companies, Compac and BBC Technologies to strengthen their presence and customer support provided in the region.
The two-story building includes a customer experience centre and regional training hub which enables tests and demonstrations to take place. It also accommodates offices, a meeting room and a spare parts store for additional stock.
“The new regional headquarters put us closer to all our Latin American customers to ensure they receive the best resources, service and support. This large facility hosts both service and sales personnel, affirming our commitment to the future in this region,” said Michel Picandet, head of Tomra Food.
Rather than travel to Tomra’s premises in California, potential customers will now be able to test machines with their own samples of produce from the new Santiago demonstration area.
According to Tomra, it has already delivered many tests for customers on a wide variety of produce including fresh and IQF berries, nuts, almonds and seaweed.
The demonstration room currently hosts five optical sorting machines and in upcoming months, Tomra said customers will also be able to test a Compac Single Lane Sorter with Spectrim, UltraView and Inspectra inspection systems.
“Opening our new regional headquarters is another step forward in providing local access to our global network of training, technical expertise and services across the whole Latin American region, which exports a significant portion of the global trade in fresh produce,” Ken Moynihan, CEO of Compac, added.
The new headquarters, which are close to the city’s international airport, adds to the premises that BBC Technologies has been operating in in Chillán for the last 10 years.
“A further benefit of the new headquarters is that people from all three of Tomra’s food-related brands are now located in the same country, working more closely together and exchanging information and ideas,” Thomas Molnar, head of global sales at Toma Food, said.
With global headquarters in Belgium, Tomra Food also has regional headquarters in the USA, China and South Africa, as well as 32 regional offices around the world.
Liked this article? Subscribe to Food Business Africa News, our regular email newsletters with the latest news insights from Africa and the World’s food and agro industry. SUBSCRIBE HERE
