Four major announcements made by TOMRA Food at Fruit Logistica 2022

Last week, at Fruit Logistica, TOMRA Food celebrated its 50th anniversary, showcased a new brand strategy affirming its further steps, presented a robotic packing machine, and launched a premium sorting machine for frozen Fruits and Vegetables.  

How it all began

TOMRA was founded in Norway on April 1, 1972, by brothers Petter and Tore Planke, who created the first fully-automated reverse vending machine (RVM) in their garage. 

Since then, TOMRA evolved from designing and manufacturing RVMs to providing advanced sorting technologies for the food, mining, and recycling industries.    

Tove Andersen, President and CEO of the TOMRA Group, commented that 50 years ago TOMRA began its path and today is one of highly respected global market leaders. This is living proof of its ability to adapt, innovate, and create solutions that the market needs.

Michel Picandet, Executive Vice President and Head of TOMRA Food stated: “We are on a mission to transform and help customers feed the world, minimize waste, improve yield, and create sustainable value.".

New brand strategy 

TOMRA Food's new brand strategy that spotlights the value it creates for customers and food production, distinguishes the ambition it shares with customers, and creates unity with past acquisitions and business mergers.

In order to align TOMRA Food's operations, which have grown with acquisitions and mergers in the last years, Compac and BBC Technologies, two businesses acquired by TOMRA in 2018, now adopt the TOMRA Food brand name. Therefore, a new business area, TOMRA Fresh Food, is formed, while TOMRA Food's other operations become part of the TOMRA Processed Food business area. 

Aiming to work even closer with growers, packers and food processors, TOMRA Food accomplishes its brand name with a tagline: 'Every Resource Counts'.       

Mr. Picandet stated that their new brand represents how their lines of business and their customers are stronger together, and added that their new strategy is based on 3 key points: on growth, to grow the business faster and better; on excellence, to be the best in everything they do; and on talent, to take care of people and help them develop. The vice president is convinced that changing the brand story will also help them attract new talent to TOMRA.

New robotic packer with excellent capabilities 

At the event, TOMRA Fresh Food showcased the first robotic packing machine, the KETE16, which is capable of matching the speed and capacity of the fastest punnet and clamshell fillers, and at the same time, offering flexibility in pack type and case configuration. 

The KETE16 diverts one stream of punnets into 4 streams, releases the packages to be picked up according to configuration, then packs the product (fruit, veg, nuts, confectionery, etc.) into clamshells and punnets. A scalable design can automate everything from small operations to large-scale packing facilities and keep pace with the CURO16, one of the fastest Fill by Weight technologies on the market.   

Premium sorting solution for frozen Fruit and Veg       

At the third of the four media hotspots, the company presented the TOMRA 5C premium sorting machine, with its special biometric signature identification technology, for frozen fruit and veg.

By placing the TOMRA 5C on the processing line between the packing station and the IQF tunnel, final checks for food safety and product quality can be carried out with the highest accuracy. The sorter recognizes and eliminates remaining foreign material, extraneous vegetable matter, and product defects which are hard to detect.

This machine is located on the processing line between the IQF tunnel and the packing station to make final checks for food safety and product quality. The sorter recognizes and removes any remaining foreign material, extraneous vegetable matter, and hard-to-detect product defects. 

Compared to its predecessor, the Nimbus BSI, this new machine further boosts sorting efficiency and yields; is simpler to keep running in optimum condition; has a new design which reduces cleaning time by up to 35% compared to the Nimbus, and has a capacity that's higher by 5-10%.  

To prove to the members of the media the impressive capabilities of the TOMRA 5C and the TOMRA Insight data platform, TOMRA's fourth hotspot staged a live demonstration of the machine from TOMRA's Test Center in Leuven, Belgium.

The TOMRA 5C was tasked with sorting IQF mixed Vegetables, IQF Fruits, and IQF green beans. Each demonstration showed how this machine recognizes and ejects typical foreign material and extraneous vegetable materials, including hard-to-find defects. 

Online machine demonstrations have become popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, because potential purchasers of TOMRA's machines could get acquainted with the technology remotely and with total transparency. After the tests, potential purchasers receive a highly detailed report of the test results. 

For more information about TOMRA Food, send your inquiry