YOUR INDUSTRY
Official opening marks beginning of new era for fruit packing Geoff Lewis
The official opening of the Tomra Field Research Centre in June marked the end of an era for a family of Waikato blueberry growers, but a new phase in the development of horticultural technology in New Zealand. The $14 million state-of-the art facility is located on a four-hectare block at Rukuhia near Hamilton and has been purpose-built as a research and development hub for technology and equipment used to sort, grade and pack berries and small fruits. The field research centre is the largest operation in New Zealand of the Norwegian global fruit sorting and packaging equipment company, Tomra. Half the site houses 1800sqm of new office and research and development space, while the other half is being developed as a horticultural trial plot with plantings to allow newly designed equipment to be tried, tested and developed with the aid of practical expertise. Three thousand square metres are dedicated to a factory and fabrication area. There is also a space dedicated to intellectual property development and workshops for hands-on electronics, engineering and fabrication; a science office and test facilities along with space for collaboration with other technology developers and institutions. Outgoing chief executive, Geoff Furniss, says the drivers for development come from growers. “We have (produce) category managers out working with our customers. The aim is to make their operations more efficient, reduce product damage and losses and bring the value back to the growers as profit. We’ve learned a hell of a lot in the past 20 years.” “Developing new sorting and packing equipment means working closely with growers locally and internationally 44
The ORCHARDIST : JULY 2022
Geoff Furniss overlooking the fabrication and manufacturing area. Photos, Trefor Ward
and brainstorming options. Selling around the world into markets including Australia, the United States, Canada and Europe means any new technology must comply with the standards in those nations, Geoff says. Part of the process is a two-hectare test planting area including a one-hectare ’plant library’. This will allow the research centre to grow fruits in season, with experience passed on to Tomra’s research and development activities. The Centre’s official opening on 15 June marked the culmination of a 40-year journey by the Furniss family, who cleared and planted blueberries on the peat-rich Moanatuatua wetland near Ohaupo in the 1980s. The initial operation, known as Blueberry Country, continues today. Its subsidiary, BBC Technologies, developed over 20 years into the lion’s share of the business designing and manufacturing sorting and packing equipment. This attracted the interest of Tomra, which bought BBC Technologies in 2018. The year before, Tomra had also bought Auckland-based Compac Sorting Equipment Ltd, both of which are now respectively Tomra Fresh Food and Tomra Processed Food. Geoff oversaw the construction of the field research centre and says Tomra’s decision to invest in a facility in a small nation at the end of the earth demonstrates the company’s vote of confidence in the quality of local research and development. “New Zealand is not a cheap place to do business,” Geoff says.“ But we have an edge. We can develop world-class technology. A purpose-built test facility is something we’ve never had before and we’re just starting to get people in from Australia, the United Kingdom and California.
