Tomra Food creates new regional South American base in Chile
Belgian-based Tomra Food has moved to expand the business further with opening a new regional headquarters in Santiago, Chile, to enhance its support of companies operating in the processing and packaging sectors, including within confectionery.
As the business explained to Confectionery Production, its latest purpose-built base mean that along with its sister companies, Compac and BBC Technologies, the group has a strong presence in South America, which contributes significantly to the global supply of a number of segments including fruits, nuts, grains and seeds used widely within sweets and bakery manufacturing.
Located in the ENEA business park in the Pudahuel area of Santiago, the new headquarters are close to the city’s international airport, with its 810 square-meter, two-story building adding to the premises BBC Technologies has been operating in Chillán for 10 years with more than 20 employees.
The new building accommodates offices, a meeting room, a spare parts store for greater spare parts stock, and a test and demonstration area that serves as a Customer Experience Center and Regional Training Hub.
These facilities and activities are creating local employment opportunities. Michel Picandet, Head of Tomra Food, said: “Our business is growing in Latin America, as it is elsewhere in the world, and Chile is the perfect location for expanding our presence here. 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.” Ken Moynihan, CEO of Compac, said: “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.
Fresh produce companies are looking to supply their customers 365 days per year, so they need to secure high-quality supply from the southern hemisphere. And to succeed in this high value market, exporters need the best packing lines, which is where we add value to their business.” The headquarters’ spacious demonstration area makes it possible for potential customers to test machines with their own samples of produce. Latin American customers who previously wanted to do this typically had to make the longer trip to the company’s premises in California, US.
Thomas Molnar, head of global sales at Tomra Food, said: “A further benefit of the new headquarters is that people from all three of our food-related brands are now located in the same country, working more closely together and exchanging information and ideas. This is going to benefit customers by giving us an even better understanding of their operational challenges, ambitions, and agricultural trends in the region. This is important because Latin America is such a big source in the global supply chain, and still developing.”
