TOMRA Sorting appoints Ashley Hunter Global head of Food Business

Sensor-based food sorting solutions pioneer TOMRA Sorting has appointed Ashley Hunter as senior vice-president and head of its food business.

In his new role, based primarily in Leuven, Belgium, Mr Hunter will oversee all activity conducted worldwide by TOMRA Sorting Food.

Mr Hunter was previously head of TOMRA’s food division in the Americas and Oceania, mainly based in Sacramento, California. He had held that position since 2010, when his former employer ODENBERG became part of TOMRA. The latter’s food offering was enhanced further last year when it acquired the Belgian-based BEST Sorting organisation.

Setting out his aims in his new role, Mr Hunter said: “We already design and supply innovative, world-class sorting, peeling, and process analytics solutions for a very wide range of applications at every stage from farm to fork. We have more than 7,000 machines installed worldwide, augmented by an unrivalled global service network, and these factors undoubtedly give us very significant competitive advantages, but much important work remains to be done.

“There are still synergies to be released from the amalgamation of our two outstanding legacy food companies, for example, in terms of technology, experience, sales and distribution, and I’m determined that these advantages will be maximised in the months and years ahead.

“I also want to ensure that our food customers benefit to the greatest extent possible from TOMRA also containing specialist mining and recycling divisions. We’re seeing evidence of these advantages being spread across frontiers through the introduction of our unique biometric signature identification technology, originally developed for our recycling arm, into our own Nimbus, Halo and Field Product Sorter machines, for example, but there’s much more progress of this kind to be made in the future.”

Born in the Philippines, Mr Hunter was brought-up in Ireland and obtained a first-class honours degree in engineering awarded by Trinity College, Dublin. He then held management positions in manufacturing and in technical sales of capital equipment before joining ODENBERG in 1994 as its US engineering manager. He became president of ODENBERG’s US business three years later, a role he held until the TOMRA merger. Mr Hunter has served as chairman and a board member of the US Food Processing Suppliers Association, one of the most influential trade associations in the North American food industry. TOMRA Sorting Solutions creates sensor-based technologies for sorting, peeling and process analytics and unites four strong brands under one roof: TITECH for recycling, TOMRA Sorting Mining for mining, ODENBERG for food and BEST for food and raw materials. This powerful alliance makes the company one of the most advanced providers of sensor-based sorting solutions worldwide.

The alliance provides many benefits and synergies including 15 test and demo centers worldwide, access to a vast array of technologies and a large research and development department. TOMRA Sorting Solutions’ global reach also allows it to deliver an enhanced service offering, with a shared service network ensuring the company is always close to its customers. For more information visit www.tomrasorting.com