july2017

52 53 AT A GLANCE | LOMA SYSTEMS WHAT: A leading engineering and manufacturing company specializing in metal detection WHERE: World Headquarters in Farnborough, UK; U.S. Headquarters in Carol Stream, IL WEBSITE: www.loma.com LOMA SYSTEMS, AN ITWCOMPANY LOMA SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO SURVIVE “Y ou could say Loma Systems came out of the ashes of war,” says Mark LeMire, North America Business Unit Manager of one of the leading engineering and manufacturing companies specializing in metal detection, checkweighing, and x-ray inspection systems for the food, pharmaceutical and packaging industries. “Metal detec- tion was a necessity coming out of the post-World War II need to find unexploded arsenal and bombs in and around the European area. It quickly developed into something where the metal detec- tion technology was also a necessity for safety considerations for consumer products.” Loma Systems was established in 1969 in the UK as a private business and was later acquired by the Spectris Group in 1995 where Loma became highly focused on R&D development. “It was a European company for many years,” says LeMire. “It was 1980, when it moved into Canada as a sales and service entity, and after a few years, it moved to its North American base in the Chicago area. In 2007, the ITW Corporation acquired Loma Systems and made it part of its portfolio in the Test and Measurement Group.” ITW is a multi-national manufacturer of a diversified range of val- ue-adding and short lead time industrial products and equipment. It consists of approximately 825 business units in 52 countries and employs approximately 50,000 people. “In 2011, Loma Systems acquired Lock Inspection, which is another food, beverage, and pharmaceutical inspection company with comparable products, but with some technological differenc- es that were a good fit to partner with the Loma Systems product line,” LeMire adds. “So, what you see, today, in 2017, is the com- bination of Loma Systems/Lock Inspection underneath the ITW Corporation.”