TOMRA Food is establishing itself on the Brainport Industries Campus (BIC) as of July 1st. The Norwegian multi-billion dollar company wants to be part of all the activity and innovation that is present on the campus. The company designs and produces sensor-based sorting machines and integrated post-harvest solutions for the food industry. This involves the use of advanced sorting, grading, peeling and analysis technology.
At BIC, TOMRA Food will not be manufacturing any machinery, but instead the company is opening a sales and service office. This is where customers can go for assistance and tech support if there is something wrong with their machinery. Leo Dukker, Service Director EMEA at TOMRA Food is excited about the move. “It’s a fantastic environment. BIC exudes innovation. Besides all the companies there, you also have all kinds of educational institutes here. It’s a kind of village with like-minded people where you can meet up and inspire each other. That’s only going to increase the pleasure of working there for us.”
Not the odd one out
Despite the small number of companies in the food industry that are on campus, TOMRA Food is not the odd one out, according to Dukker. “Parent company TOMRA is much more wide-ranging than just agro. We develop sorting technology for a broad spectrum of applications. These kinds of applied technologies also share a lot of common ground and an overlap with what is being developed at BIC. As TOMRA Food, we happen to use our quality sensors and sorting technologies for the food industry. But you can use them on all sorts of machinery in different sectors too. It is precisely this mix of several kinds of companies that makes BIC so interesting,” he adds.
Dukker explains that TOMRA Food not only wants to benefit from the ecosystem present on the BIC, but also wants to actively contribute to it. “The great thing about it is that the vibe there is open. The other day I struck up a conversation with someone and they were immediately interested in our sorting solutions. We bring an enormous amount of experience with us that we have in various applied technologies which fit in well with BIC. In addition to this expertise and experience, others can also benefit from, for example, our sensor technology for registering deviations.”
Coming up with smart solutions together
So far, nothing concrete has emerged from these conversations, Dukker says. “Last week, we didn’t even have an Internet connection,” he jokes. Also, TOMRA Food has to “land” on campus first. “For one thing, we don’t know all the ins and outs of the various innovation programs yet. But the dynamics on the campus are great. People are coming up with smart solutions together. You can discuss these with other people while you are eating a sandwich in the canteen. I am convinced that some amazing things can come out of this all.”
