Michel Picandet explains how the new organization will help to respond their customers’ needs better

TOMRA Food is a prominent producer of sensor-based sorting machines and integrated post-harvest equipment for the food industry. The company uses one of the world’s most advanced grading, sorting, peeling and analytical technology. Their solutions are installed at food growers, packers and processors around the world. 

In January 2021, TOMRA Food announced their new organization concentrated on two business areas, Fresh Food and Processed Food. It brings together the vast technology portfolio, the wide array of Research & Development skills, and an important global footprint in the sector. 

This time, the editorial team of Fructidor had a chance to interview Michel Picandet, Executive Vice President and Head of TOMRA Food, who kindly revealed the peculiarities of this event.

Fructidor: “What does the new organization mean for your customers, non-customers, and potential customers?”

Mr. Picandet: “Our new organization at TOMRA Food aims to serve our customers better: we want to be closer to them in all supporting functions, from Service to Sales and Engineering and Projects. On one end, by merging BBC Technologies and Compac, we take advantage of significant synergies between operations, while on the other end, our leadership change with Geoff Furniss in TOMRA Fresh Food and Ken Moynihan in TOMRA Processed Food will facilitate cross-pollination across the two business areas. We have also structured our business approach focusing on Category management to contribute to our industry's required improvements and put our (new) customers in the lead. We feel this is important when looking at sustainability and other ESG elements where TOMRA wants to lead the resource revolution, in Food too”.

Fructidor: “What is planned to achieve with the new organization?”

Mr. Picandet: “We want to become more proactive in understanding and addressing our customers' needs. In addition to the changes just mentioned, we have also created Communities of Expertise centrally, where we intend to capitalize on what is best in our industry, especially when it comes to Supply Chain, Product Management and Innovation, MarCom and Business Development, as well as After Sales Service. We have appointed our best experts in each activity and want to create a related reference community with our partners' internal and external networks”.

Fructidor: “What are the advantages of such an organization compared to competitors?”

Mr. Picandet: “There are several, really. As we have unique proximity to our customers in most regions - either directly or indirectly under the TOMRA Food umbrella - we keep our flexibility and agility, consolidating one way of doing while leveraging across the entire TOMRA group. Clearly, this is not a cost but a value-driven exercise, combining the power of people, technology, and digital solutions. We have already observed such benefits in recent months under COVID-19, where several customers rated their satisfaction at a higher level”.  

Fructidor: “Last year TOMRA Food opened regional headquarters in Chile, any plans for expansion in 2021 or future years?”

Mr. Picandet: “We continue to invest in what creates value, and Chile is undoubtedly a good example regionally. As our categories and market dynamics develop, we continuously review our global footprint and adjust our plans accordingly”.

Fructidor: “Anything you would like to share additionally?”

Mr. Picandet: “We at TOMRA are proud of our values: Innovation, Passion and Responsibility. It is with the same spirit that we intend to contribute to addressing the world's food challenges. Therefore, looking at megatrends and climate, loss of nature, and mounting inequalities, we believe that only a collaborative approach across the value chain will permit a better Future of Food with less waste, less energy consumption, and higher sustainable yields”.

To learn more about TOMRA Food, follow the link