The Asian market includes sorting and peeling technology for potatoes, nuts and seeds, fruit, beans and fresh and processed vegetables and the company has a test and demonstration center in Saitama, Japan with local service and support assistance.
Chinese version went live in February
The Japanese site follows the launch of a Chinese version which went live in February for customers worldwide and expands its range of international resources.
Marijke Bellemans, marketing and communications, Tomra, told FoodProductionDaily, Japan is one of the most demanding markets regarding quality requirements.
“With the launch of the Japanese website we do not only want to target existing clients and prospects and serve them in their language, but we want to target processors that export to Japan,” she said.
“Since the level of food quality requirement is so high in Japan, these processors can use our Japanese website as a marketing tool for their customers.
“Via our website they can show their customers they work closely together with Tomra and our sorting technology, which strengthens their business as well.”
Tomra split its sales responsbility across Asia following strong growth last year, it employed Sean Slevin heading up sales in countries outside China, particularly Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, south-east Asia and India.
Tokyo, Japan, & Soeul, South Korea
Steven Van Geel was appointed sales director for China, developing sales and customer support activities, including service and application development.
Outside China, the group has existing Asian facilities near Tokyo, Japan, a shared site near Soeul, South Korea, and premises in Bangalore, India.
"Japan is one of Tomra's most important markets. The quality expectations of the Japanese consumer is legendary. While we have developed and marketed sorting machines for almost 30 years, the recent rapid Japanese growth has been underpinned by our technological advances together with investment in the local sales, service and support organisation, near Tokyo," said Slevin.
"In the Food business we meet the most stringent quality and safety demands across a wide variety of foodstuffs that form the Japanese diet, from chips to seaweed and most in between. I recently visited a Japanese factory preparing salad products for a food service chain. The attention to quality and safety was astounding.
"Of the salad arriving at the factory over 50% was considered not suitable while the diligence in ensuring no bugs or foreign material was incredible (Japan imports up to 60% of its food). It is only now that technology has caught up."
Creating sensor-based technologies for sorting, peeling and process analytics, Tomra has four brands under one roof: Titech for recycling, Tomra Sorting Mining for mining, Odenberg for food and Best for food and raw materials.
Visitors to the Japanese-language section on the Tomra website can view the company’s latest news stories, find out where they will be exhibiting and learn about product innovations and technology.