New facility in Spain to serve as TOMRA Food regional hub, demonstration center

A new center dedicated to fresh fruit and processed food projects in Valencia, Spain, will serve as TOMRA Food’s main hub for southern Europe and North Africa.

The facility, which also functions as a training, service and spare parts center, is part of TOMRA’s restructuring in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, according to a news release. On-site demonstrations will take place at the center, which is fully operational.

“We want to work directly with the customer in as few time zones as possible,” Karel Strubbe, senior vice president and head of TOMRA Food for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, said in the release. “This enables us to be more agile, to establish an even closer relationship with our customers, and ultimately to work better locally. It is vital to improve the speed and quality of communications to always offer the best service.”

The Spanish fruit and vegetable and nut sector, key to TOMRA’s focus, is concentrated in Spain’s eastern Levante region and surrounding area, according to the release. TOMRA will manage its European projects from the Valencia center, which will also be a demonstration hub for large and small fruit applications, according to the release.

Processed food demonstrations will occasionally be conducted at the center, though Belgium will continue to serve as the hub for those products, according to the release.

The facility also serves as an after-sales service hub in the EMEA region and stores spare parts to reduce delivery times. A technical team of 15 people, headed by Jorge García Cascales, provides support to the almost 400 machines in fresh and processed food installations in Spain and Portugal while also serving other countries in the region.

“For us, demonstration centers are very important. They enable us to show our customers what our sorting machines can achieve for them,” said Alejandro Palacios, TOMRA Food’s regional sales manager for Southern Europe. “The majority of demonstrations at the Valencia center are for citrus, blueberries and whole potatoes. Customers can also bring their product and receive support tailored to their needs. The whole TOMRA team is very excited about the new center.”

Machines demonstrated at the Valencia center include the Demo SLS (Single Lane Sorter) featuring Spectrim C2IR and Inspectra 2 for citrus and large fruit applications and the KATO + LUCAi 12-line sorter for blueberries, which uses deep learning technology to process data and detect complex patterns in photos.

A TOMRA 3A optical sorter for unwashed potatoes featuring the latest mechanical and vision advances is also available for demonstrations, according to the release.

“The idea is to have machines, such as the KATO and Spectrim for fresh produce, always at the center,” Palacios said. “These are sorters built on high-performance hardware with improved lighting and image quality, providing complete visibility of every piece of fruit, and infrared channels to detect complex defects such as radial cracks, bruises, rotten fruit, scars and punctures. We will also have a circulation of fresh food machines according to seasonal fruit and processed food sorters to support the various campaigns.”

TOMRA will soon unveil the recently launched Spectrim X platform in European markets, according to the release. The Spectrim X series, tested for 18 months in the U.S. and New Zealand, reduces inspection errors and increases throughput, according to TOMRA.