Groot-Bijgaarden – The Puratos Group confirms its commitment to continue its investments in innovation and long-term R&D with a new Global R&D Center.The start of the construction of the new center, which will be built at the Group’s headquarters in Groot-Bijgaarden (Belgium), was marked with an official first stone ceremony in the presence of selected local officials, trade organisations and research partners.
The Global R&D Center, which is set to open by the summer of 2014, will play a pivotal role in Puratos’ global network of innovation and research centers across the world. As a leading global innovator in the bakery, patisserie and chocolate industry, research & development is at the centre of all activities of the Puratos Group. Mr. Filip Arnaut, R&D Director Group Research & Services Lab, comments: “R&D is the driving force behind our partnership with our customers around the globe. It is how Puratos’ long-term vision is translated into products and solutions to help our customers innovate and differentiate more in the future.”
With three state-of-the-art research platforms – a food technology laboratory, a baked products laboratory, and a biotechnology and analytical laboratory – covering some 6000m2, the new center will become a global hub for collaboration and research. The facility will be open to Puratos’ global R&D team, as well as research partners, including some leading universities.
For Puratos Group, the new Global R&D Center is part of a broad and long-term investment plan, in which innovation and research play a key role. In the course of 2013, a regional R&D center for Asia
will open in Guangzhou (China), with another major R&D center set to open in the United States next year. Mr. Daniel Malcorps, CEO of Puratos Group, explains: “It is our firm belief that continued investment in the future is the best way to overcome today’s harsh economic climate. By doing so, we can continue to innovate and to improve the products and services we offer our customers, as well as inspire our customers. Ultimately, we want to help our customers to become even more successful in their business. With this new center, we confirm this commitment to our customers around the world.”
Mr. Eddy Van Belle, Chairman of the Board of Puratos Group, continues: “For more than 90 years already, continuous innovation has been the reason for our success. It is a constant process of risk taking and perseverance, which has been the basis for many success stories, like the T500, the very first complete bread improver, which we invented 60 years ago. Many other important innovations have followed since and keep Puratos and its products at the top of providing innovative solutions to our customers.“
About Puratos
Puratos is an international group, which offers a full range of innovative products, raw materials and application expertise for artisans, industry, retailers and food service customers in the bakery, patisserie and chocolate sectors. Our headquarters are located on the outskirts of Brussels (Belgium), where the company was founded in 1919. Today, our products and services are available in over 100 countries around the world. In many cases, they are produced locally by our subsidiaries. Above all, we aim to be ‘reliable partners in innovation’ across the globe to help our customers deliver nutritious, tasty food to their local communities.
For further information, visit www.puratos.com.
Source: Puratos