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A Belgian company producing machinery that weighs, cuts and portions food for production lines is setting up its first U.S. office in Atlanta in a bid to get closer to customers.
The American division of MARELEC Food Technologies will be headed up by 43-year poultry- and meat-processing industry veteran James “Scott” Russell, who will serve as vice president for North America.
Mr. Russell and MARELEC USA Inc. will report back to the corporate base in the city of Niewpoort, located in the Flanders region of Belgium.
Founder Piet Rommelaere called the new U.S. presence, with a business nameplate located in Buckhead, a “next logical step” into a market it has so far served through distributors, much like it does in 50 countries around the world.
“The USA has always been on the forefront to optimize food-processing lines for the production of high-quality food, resulting in maximum yield and maximum returns on investment. Our machinery fits perfectly with this philosophy,” Mr. Rommelaere said in a news release just after the International Production and Processing Expo was held in Atlanta Jan. 25-27.
MARELEC — short for “Mar” (sea) and “Electronics” — got its start in 1983 with trawl control systems for the fishing industry, gradually instituting processes for weighing catches at sea before moving into grading and weighing seafood on land. The company eventually created systems that could be integrated into mainstream food production lines, and in 2018, MARELEC doubled its production space adjacent to the North Sea to about 70,000 square feet.
Last March, the company opened a sales office in Russia, and it recently launched a series of virtual showrooms to help prospective customers envision how MARELEC products can improve profitability.
Learn more at https://www.marelec.com/home.
