Adapted from a press release.
Kemin Industries recently opened an Innovation Center and second spray-drying facility at its regional headquarters in Vargeão, Santa Catarina, Brazil, making the Kemin Nutrisurance location the largest pet food manufacturing plant in Latin America by volume capacity for producing dry and liquid palatants.
Kemin Nutrisurance, the pet food and rendering technologies business unit of Kemin Industries, has been expanding its Research and Exploration Services to enhance co-creation with customers to support them at every stage of pet food production. With its first Innovation Center in Brazil, the company said the business unit can provide fast and accurate solutions for current and future palatant and protein customers in South America.
"Our first Innovation Center in South America will greatly strengthen our Research and Exploration Services in the region," said V Lucatelli, general manager – South America, Kemin Nutrisurance. "We can now offer customers a local laboratory to improve and evaluate the performance of current and future products, as well as improve cost efficiency, to bring top innovations at the speed the pet food industry demands."
Kemin continues South America, Latin America market growth
The Innovation Center and second spray dryer are part of the global business unit's continued growth in South America and the Latin American market. In 2008, Kemin purchased the property and has since invested in renewable energy sources while still increasing its capacity and capabilities, including Kemin Nutrisurance's Research and Exploration Services. This new expansion allows the Vargeão facility to not only supply the South American market, but also support Kemin Nutrisurance's palatant needs in other regions, such as Asia and Europe, said Dr. Jason Shelton, global vice president – R&D, Kemin Nutrisurance.
"With greater emphasis on research and development (R&D) support for our customers, we can utilize our data and analytics to fine-tune our products and services to find fast and accurate solutions that better serve the market," said Dr. Shelton. "By bringing our Research and Exploration Services to the regional level through an Innovation Center, we can create a local customer experience that focuses on specific needs at the speed required by a rapidly evolving industry."
Value-added research and exploration
Last summer, Kemin introduced the Research and Exploration Services of Kemin Nutrisurance with the inauguration of Kemin’s first-ever wet pet food pilot plant at its global headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
At the time, the company said the wet pet food pilot lab is a key feature of Kemin Nutrisurance’s leading approach to research, development and service, allowing the business unit and its customers to create, test and validate pet food and treats, including kibble and wet retort products to help better predict large-scale results. The state-of-the-art facility has more production capacity and testing capabilities than most R&D labs, but with the flexibility of a smaller scale.
Kemin Nutrisurance's newest additions at the South America headquarters are now open with expanded solutions for customers in the region's pet food industry.
