Tomra demonstrates long-term commitment to the UK with the opening of new service centre of excellence

TOMRA has opened its brand-new UK facility, TOMRA House, on the outskirts of Leicester in the East Midlands. The 1,800 sq feet double-storey facility has been designed as a Centre of Excellence for service provision to TOMRA’s customers across the group’s TOMRA Sorting Solutions and TOMRA Collection Solutions businesses. It represents a significant investment and demonstrates TOMRA’s long-term commitment to the recycling industry in the UK and Ireland. 

In addition to meeting rooms and a large conference suite, TOMRA House incorporates a vast warehouse facility where €1m worth of spare parts and equipment will be available for immediate delivery to TOMRA’s customers. Currently when customers require spare parts for their sorting equipment, these are delivered to the UK from mainland Europe, with TOMRA historically holding only a small stock of spares in the UK. With this new facility in place however, TOMRA will be able to ensure continuity in customers’ operations irrespective of the outcome of Brexit.

Coinciding with the opening of TOMRA House, TOMRA Sorting is recruiting additional field service engineers which enable the company to have greater coverage of the UK market and react faster to customers’ requirements. And, for the first time, a dedicated UK-based field service optimiser will be recruited, further increasing the UK team’s technical capabilities and removing the need to rely on engineers from Germany covering this role. 

Brian Gist, Head of TOMRA UK, comments: “Almost every UK waste and recycling facility uses equipment that has been imported into the UK and it’s highly likely that the supply of spare parts for these plants will be affected by Brexit.  That’s why we have taken steps to address this threat by investing in vastly improved storage facilities from where spare parts can immediately be delivered to customers rather than being slowed down when being imported from other countries.

“The opening of TOMRA House has been welcomed with open arms by our customers as they recognise the importance of having quick access to replacement parts to keep their plants working at optimal performance.  Moving forward, thanks to our continued investment in this key market for TOMRA Sorting – we now supply 80% of the UK’s sensor-based sorting equipment – we are in a much stronger position to offer customers industry-leading service, faster access to spare parts and unrivalled engineering support.”

Truls Haug, Managing Director of TOMRA Collection UK, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with our colleagues in TOMRA Sorting in the opening of this TOMRA Centre of Excellence in Leicester.  It is exciting to establish this important hub for TOMRA Collection as we get ready for deposit return systems coming to UK, starting with Scotland.”