From small beginnings to global business

The rise of Kemin was initially relatively inconspicuous. The company set up by R.W. and Mary Nelson in 1961 started out in the family room of the Nelsons and their five children with two product lines to sell. Given these humble beginnings, few would probably have foreseen that the firm from Des Moines in Iowa, USA, would become a leading manufacturer of ingredients for the pet food industry and for the human nutrition and health industry 51 years later. But its rise to prominence was rapid. By the end of the 1960s, the company was delivering products to distributors in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain. Following its initial successes, expansion advanced in large bounds. In 1970, the first European sales and production site was built in Herentals, Belgium. "As Kemin expanded into new regions, we realised the importance of establishing a local presence in each region", says a company spokesperson. In line with this mission statement, further subsidiaries followed in Singapore, Zhuhai in China, Chen­­nai in India, and Indaiatuba, Brazil.Research a key pillarThe company took a new direction in research as well as in its expansion into new markets. The company is now able to offer a wide portfolio of natural and synthetic antioxidants, palatability enhan­cers and spray-dried protein products for the pet food industry: "In the 1980s we saw a new focus on research and development when the current president and CEO, Dr Chris Nelson, joined Kemin as research and development director in Europe. His ability to study molecules and understand how they work inside living organisms led Kemin in a new direction. He challenged scientists to understand the mode of action for all products, spurring new products and processes within the animal feed industry." It is on the basis of this work that the company now presents its broad product spectrum for the pet food industry, featuring products such as "Naturox" and the new "Verdilox", two natural antioxidants. In addition to ingredients, Kemin offers the industry a wide range of tailored customer support including application equipment, technical support and customer laboratory services. This year the company also acquired Genesis, a manufacturer of health supplements for pets that distributes only to veterinarians. This broadly based range seems to be successful, for Kemin with its global workforce and its manufacturing facilites in the US, Europe, Asia and South America. It exports its products to countries in…