Auckland, New Zealand, 9 February 2021 – TOMRA Food has launched the most comprehensive online
learning resource for packhouse professionals in the fresh produce industry. Packhouse Academy,
powered by TOMRA Academy, offers a wide range of on-demand videos, live interactive webinars, and
user-driven training modules. Packhouse Academy will empower individuals to increase their industrycritical knowledge and skills, in turn helping packhouses improve their pack-out, productivity, and
quality.
TOMRA Food has created Packhouse Academy to help businesses overcome skills shortages in machine
operation and other specialist packhouse roles. A good machine operator allows a packhouse to
maximize investment in technology for better pack-out and profitability, but until now, a lack of training
pathways has typically meant packhouses themselves had to train their staff in setting-up and operating
machinery for optimal results. As technology and industry best practices continually evolve, Packhouse
Academy makes it easy to keep pace by developing and maintaining the skills necessary for competitive
advantage. The training is deployed through a personalized learning portal, making it possible for
individuals to study at their own speed via desktop, laptop, or mobile device, at a time and place
convenient for them and their employers.
Roydon Adlam, Global Customer Training Manager TOMRA Fresh Food, commented: “Packhouse
Academy’s mission is to ensure that every packhouse team member is equipped with the right blend of
skills and experience. This is an opportunity for individuals to develop their careers and get their skills
recognized by professional certificates, and for packhouses to operate at their maximum potential. We
expect the courses on operators’ skills and new software releases to be the most popular because these
will help advance the attainment of benefits from our customers’ investments in machinery.”
Training the experts
TOMRA Food launches Packhouse Academy, the fresh produce industry’s most comprehensive online learning resource
TOMRA Food has shaped its new education program with an expert understanding of real-world needs
as the leading provider of integrated post-harvest solutions to the global fresh produce industry.
Packhouse Academy’s Tier 1 content, which is free to access, helps build or affirm general industry
knowledge, as well as covering topics specific to operating TOMRA Food equipment. Tier 2 premium
content, accessible to paid subscribers, is TOMRA Food-specific. Tier 2 content complements, and
sometimes substitutes for, the Instructor-Led Training (ILT) workshops at TOMRA Food’s seven global
training centers and onsite coaching at customers’ premises.
Packhouse Academy initially offers 75 courses, each with a length of about five to seven minutes, with
bundles of three or more courses forming seven distinct learning paths. Courses can be taken in part
and then completed at a later date. Knowledge checkpoints and scores make it easy to track progress
through study modules, and records are automatically kept of each course and learning path
successfully completed. Completion is recognized by a downloadable personalized certificate.
Course content comprises topics such as the responsibilities, tasks, and skills demanded by packhouse
operations; optimizing packhouse production capabilities; good manufacturing practices; packhouse
safety; packhouse sanitation; setting-up and optimizing sorting and grading equipment; new software
and new products; and troubleshooting.
The learning paths cover packhouse standards; sizer operations at morning start-up; sizer operations
and troubleshooting; sizer operations and maximizing performance; an introduction to Spectrim (the
industry’s most powerful optical sorting platform); an introduction to Inspectra² (the internal inspection
system for fresh produce); and cleaning and sanitation of TOMRA Food equipment.
