Mera plotting a course for the future

In the 18 months since Felix Vos joined his father, Bernd Vos, as a director on the operational management team of Mera Tiernahrung, a lot has changed at the company's site in Kevelaer, the well-known place of pilgrimage on the German-Dutch border. Today Mera Tiernahrung boasts state-of-the-art production facilities and is a leading national and international manufacturer of dog and cat food with its brands Meradog, Wahre Liebe, Mera Exklusiv and Meravital. Germany is the company's principal sales market, although Mera also exports its products to more than 40 countries worldwide. The company is even in the top three in Europe with regard to baked products for dogs. Felix Vos is the third generation of the family to run the company and is currently responsible for expansion of the Kevelaer site by investment in production and storage capacity. Following the successful development of the company in the last few years, he wishes by this investment to make another important contribution to taking Mera Tiernahrung forward into the future with skill and passion.

The dynamic growth of the company has meant that Mera has had to store finished products at outsourced warehouses in recent years. To guarantee storage on one site and organise the production and downstream warehousing processes more efficiently, a new logistics centre linked to the existing production plant was built. Thanks to the new centre, which comprises a three-aisle high-bay warehouse with space for approximately 13 300 pallets, the storage and loading of all packaged finished products onto Euro pallets can be undertaken directly from the new building in future. With dimensions of approx. 105 m in length, 23 m in width and a height of 33 metres, the fully automated high-bay warehouse in silo design was built to the latest specification and with sustainability aspects in mind. The overall concept includes generous expansion options, enabling the storage capacity to be more than doubled.
Since this was the biggest single investment in the company's history after the new plant was constructed in 2006, Mera entrusted the realisation of the project to SSI-Schäfer, an experienced general contractor and German family-owned and -operated firm, investing ten million euros in the initiative.