Investment in optimised logistics

Based in Rosenberg in southern Germany, the family firm JRS has been using plant fibres and fibre material to produce a wide variety of industrial, technical and consumer products on a natural basis for over 130 years. The diverse functions of these fibre materials, such as water retention, drying control, the provision of structure, binding or bursting functions etc. have been utilised with the aid of various processes. The main raw material groups used are fibres from wood, maize, vegetables, cereals and fruit as well as different grades of cellulose raw materials. An important application area for JRS is pet hygiene. With its “Cat’s Best” product range, the company has turned a niche prod-uct into a strong line in the sphere of high-quality hygiene products for cats. JRS stresses that it achieves sensational results in terms of odour and moisture absorption and the trapping of polluted liquids inside the fibres using a special fibrillation process – a technology that is also used in many of JRS’s industrial applications. JRS considers the future of modern cat litter to lie primarily in ecological products manufactured from renewable, environmentally friendly plant raw materials. In contrast to mineral raw materials, which are mined in many countries from pits that then lie idle or require major efforts to return them to nature, JRS believes that plant raw materials offer the guarantee that they create an excellent ecological balance in the biological cycle. Litter products from JRS are all compostable and fully biodegradable. With regard to cat litter in particular, JRS points out that in central Europe, cat litter (especially mineral litter) has now become one of the biggest single components of residual household waste. Using alternative raw materials, JRS aims to show environmentally aware consumers a way out of the refuse dead end that has a perceptible effect on the household budget too. The “Cat’s Best” products offer the optimum eco-nomy with regard to duration of use, product benefits and disposal costs thanks to the fibre functions. The company intends to back interesting innovations in the future too. A number of development projects are in progress at present, some for private label customers and others for the company’s own product lines, to introduce further fibre functions into new applications. Expanding logistics A successful modern business model that takes account of the structures in the pet supplies trade also calls for a…