The company recently opened a new 54,000 square foot production and warehousing facility in Illinois that it said is expected to produce about 3,000mt of feed additives annually.
The Belgium-headquartered firm produces a suite of feed additives including digestive aids, mycotoxin management and palatability products.
Keith Klanderman, president of Nutriad Inc, said the firm has plans to grow its base in the US and to develop a dairy-specific market with both current dairy products and others that are in development.
“The principle area that we’ll focus on will be digestive performance, [with the aim of] getting the young animals to perform better and avoid the hurdles of early weaning or transition to new feeds,” he told FeedNavigator. “We feel well positioned to move forward with energy and a lot of excitement.”
The new center offers upgraded laboratory facilities with the capacity to undertake more research into flavor and aroma improvements for feeds or products, said Klanderman.
Palatability positioning
“We do have pretty good strength in the market when it comes to palatability, since that was the base of the business when we were purchased in 2003 and today we enjoy a 55-57% market share in the US, 50% in Canada and 28-30% in Mexico and Central America,” he said. “When it comes to palatability we’ve been lucky to have a strong base, and it’s enabled us to leverage that success and grow our other pieces of business (like) mycotoxin management and digestibility.”
The new building also will allow for coordination among the other North American based warehouses and improved capacity to get products to customers, he said. The amount of product produced at the facility will enable it to “touch a good segment of the market,” added Klanderman.
The new center brings together several different operations and includes offices, laboratories, a warehouse along with a manufacturing base, the company said.
Biosecurity
Additionally, the $4m investment in the new facility and equipment allowed the company to upgrade its biosecurity efforts to address the US Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), said Klanderman.
The building allows for improved traceability of products and collects the data necessary to keep the company in line with new regulations and laws, he said. Nutriad will be able to carry out quality control checks on the raw materials used.
“We have the kind of facility and openness to our records that generates additional confidence to our customers, and people who buy from our customers,” he said. “The end customer has to be confident that we, as an industry, are doing what we can to ensure the safe supply of food.”