When looking at companies in the food chain, Marel even ranks third, behind RijkZwaan (seeds) and FrieslandCampina (dairy).
Contrary to 2018, the majority of companies saw Dutch R&D spending rise in 2019. In total, R&D in the Netherlands reached a new peak. TW’s Top 30 tells that Marel has spent 32 million dollar on R&D, compared to 25 million dollar in 2016. Worldwide, Marel spent 82 million dollar, which means 6.3% of the revenues.
Over the past few years, Marel could realize a crucial part of its organic growth through these increased investments in innovation. In the background, it’s the R&D department that instigates all of these innovations.
Know-how and know-why
Liliane de Nie, Innovation Director Poultry, is proud of Marel’s achievement. “This high ranking is truly a fantastic acknowledgment of all the know-how and know-why on poultry processing that the company has built up over the years. It goes to show that our researchers and developers have managed to translate our extremely valuable source of knowledge into successful solutions for the worldwide poultry market. With our R&D department, we’re on a continuous journey to ensure we keep moving the boundaries of food processing.”
Every idea counts
“Innovation has always been a core driver of Marel’s endeavors. By investing annually about 6% of our revenues into research and development, we help our R&D engineers develop their ideas, which sometimes turn into groundbreaking solutions. We also stimulate innovation by working in partnership with our customers, universities and other partners to develop breakthrough solutions that support sustainable development in food production. In 2019, Marel introduced in total 30 innovations. “
Liliane de Nie adds, “Recently, we totally renewed our R&D department in Boxmeer and now we’ve created the ideal environment to nurture new ideas and bring them to full fruition.”
Building blocks
As innovation is one of the pillars of Marel, the role of Research & Development within the company has always been of paramount importance. Marel’s engineers constantly seek new ways to meet the growing demand for quality food. Through constant research and development, they aim to offer customers modular building blocks for high-tech food processing, with the overarching Innova food processing software tying the entire value chain together.
* Technisch Weekblad, the leading technical weekly magazine in the Netherlands