BEST announces expansion plans in the US during visit of the Ambassador of Belgium

BEST, (Belgian Electronic Sorting Technology), welcomes the Ambassador of Belgium to the United States at its facilities in Englewood, Colorado and announces its future investment plans.

On May 27 the 2010, BEST officials offered a  Belgian Style business luncheon  to local Colorado representatives,  in honor of  the visit  of the Ambassador of Belgium to the United States and Mrs.,  Jan Matthysen

Among the guests were Arapahoe County Commissioners, Susan Beckman and Rod Bockenfield, Southeast Business Partnership responsible, Lynn Meyers.  The delegation was accompanied by Pam Reichert of the Colorado Division of Economic Development and International Trade and Elaine Thorndike of the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology.

BEST, with corporate headquarters in Leuven, Belgium, is world market leader in laser sorting technologies for food and non-food applications.  The BEST product line utilizes a wide variety of technical platforms (laser, camera, LED and X-ray)   to detect and separate contaminations, like foreign objects, discolorations or imperfections from high capacity production lines.

BEST machinery can be found in over 50 countries improving quality, efficiency and reliability on more than 50 different applications.

The event started with a tour of the facilities and was followed by live demonstrations of different optical platforms, sorting almonds, potato chips and fresh blueberries.

CEO, Mr Paul Berghmans,   finished the gathering with the company’s presentation and announced plans to expand operations in the USA.  “More than 30% of the sorters produced in Europe are exported to North America. “

In December 2009 BEST started producing the PrimusTM Sorter in Englewood, CO.  The success of locally producing this small but important machine for the US market easily showed the benefits of manufacturing in the USA.
Working with the support of local authorities BEST would like to produce its entire line of machines for the North American market in its Colorado facilities, and in doing so achieve its plans to double sales  to $ 130 million  dollars  over the next 5 years.

“The expansion of the production facilities in the USA will not only eliminate costly international shipping expenses that will benefits our US customers,  but it will  also free-up production slots at our European production sites, to meet  the other worldly demand. These global expansions are a result of the continuous growth in sales of approximately 15 % a year, and the desire to best serve the US market.” Mr. Berghmans continued.

The expansion of the production capabilities In Colorado will increase employment at the Englewood facilities from 25 to 75 over the next three years.  BEST will also provide opportunities for several local subcontractors and supplier for many basic components and parts.