Colgate-Palmolive has inaugurated a cutting-edge manufacturing plant for Hill’s Pet Nutrition in Tonganoxie, KS, aiming to address capacity limitations hampering its growth objectives. This 365,000-square-foot smart factory incorporates advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation. Autonomous mobile robots play a crucial role in transporting product samples to the quality lab, streamlining quality checks, and minimising manual labor. The facility also features a tech-enabled “Mission Control Centre” utilising AI for enhanced monitoring of the pet food production process, ensuring product integrity. Colgate-Palmolive expects the plant to expedite time-to-market by shortening production cycles, ultimately fostering new product innovations to further develop the successful Hill’s Pet Nutrition brand. The pet food segment has been a notable growth engine for the company, but capacity constraints prompted strategic investments, including this new plant, to alleviate those limitations and facilitate expansion.

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