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May 08, 2024

A multidisciplinary testing approach ensures the quality of TOMRA Collection’s reverse vending technology

With the objective of ensuring the quality of its reverse vending machines, TOMRA Collection established a collaborative partnership with Sogeti on a multidisciplinary testing approach.

About TOMRA collection

Worldwide, around 1.4 trillion cans and bottles are used every year. While some of these containers are recycled, too many of them end up in streets, oceans, and landfills. TOMRA Collection strives to reduce society’s reliance on raw materials by enabling drink bottles and cans to be in a continuous loop of use and reuse.

TOMRA Collection was founded on an innovation in 1972 that began with the design, manufacturing, and sale of reverse vending machines (RVMs) for automated collection of used beverage containers. Today, TOMRA Collection division has approximately 85,000 reverse vending machines, operating in 60 global markets that collect and sort aluminum, plastic, and glass beverage containers to be continually reused and recycled back into new bottles and cans.

Quality assurance improves TOMRA collection’s product offering

Innovation is at the heart of TOMRA Collection, and the company works on developing new reverse vending technology to continuously improve its product offering. To ensure the accuracy and predictability of the reverse vending machines, as well as to meet high-quality standards, regular testing and quality assurance are vital. Collaborating with a partner like Sogeti, who is a skilled quality assurance partner, offers a comprehensive testing approach and robust testing solution.

A comprehensive approach to testing

TOMRA Collection’s reverse vending machines require a multidisciplinary testing process that involves technical, user-centered, security, and regulatory aspects. Due to its combination of hardware and software elements, the testing process is complex and intricate. TOMRA Collection’s collaboration with Sogeti enables them to employ both embedded and automated testing methodologies, effectively covering various testing scenarios.

IoT testing of reverse vending machines

TOMRA Collection’s reverse vending machines currently capture 1,500 bottles and cans every second— and over 46 billion containers a year. The machine uses various methods to identify the type of container being returned. This identification can be made through barcode scanning, RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) technology, or other recognition mechanisms. TOMRA Collection in collaboration with Sogeti conducts IoT testing to verify accurate container recognition and efficient throughput. The testing also assesses the machine’s resilience under stress and effective error handling ensuring it meets TOMRA Collections high quality standards.

The transformative partnership

The quality testing of its reverse vending machines supports TOMRA Collection to remain digitally transformative and achieve its mission to process billions of beverage containers a year. One of the key advantages of having a testing partner like Sogeti is that TOMRA Collection has the ability to scale up or down resources based on business changes and ensures that testing models are aligned with emerging demands and technological advancements.

TOMRA Collection is constantly improving its machinery to be more energy efficient. Sogeti is proud to be associated with this purpose and its contribution to this cause.

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Client: TOMRA Collection

Region: Norway

Industry: Manufacturing

Offer: Quality Engineering and Testing

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