MCCORMICK LAUNCHES THE FIRST TECHNICAL INNOVATION CENTRE IN THE EMEA REGION

The heart of the multinational company’s product development plants its roots in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire

Global herb and spice manufacturers, McCormick, have launched the company’s Technical Innovation Centre (TIC) in Haddenham, Buckinghamshire. The first of its kind in the EMEA region, it will be the heart of product development across the food industry. Investing £1.5 million in the TIC build, it clearly demonstrates McCormick’s innovation leadership within the sector and showcases its passion for flavour.

According to Rick Gill, vice president, EMEA Technical and Research & Development: “Our new Technical Innovation Centre is an excellent example of McCormick’s continued investment in new product development and passion for flavour. We want to lead in innovation and deliver winning products with superior flavours, positive nutrition and value, while ensuring products are created with local taste and flavour preferences in mind.”

The McCormick TIC includes the following state of the art facilities which are in line with McCormick’s continuous efforts to minimise its environmental impact:

A Create IT® room for ideation and concept development
Modern kitchens for the culinary testing and recipe creation
A high tech sensory area for customers and consumers to feedback on products in development with reduced distractions

Central to the TIC is the Create IT® process, which is at the core of McCormick’s global new product development and gives the company a proven track record in developing winning herbs and spices products and flavours. The process is a collaborative way of creating new and improved products by using a high performance team of consumer insight, marketing, sensory, culinary and product development professionals. As a leader in innovation, McCormick has a full range of creative and analytical talent at their disposal to create customised flavour and spice blends.

Sustainable aspects were purposefully included in the build. These elements include:

Carpeting made from recycled materials
Extensive use of natural light
Recycled glass partition
Low-wattage lighting
Automated on/off sensors and minimal paper consumption.

Malcolm Swift, president, McCormick EMEA says: “McCormick’s focus is to consistently provide top product innovations to our global customers in the consumer, industrial and food service businesses. The new TIC is a place where our customers can proudly be invited to engage in professional innovation sessions, showcasing McCormick’s highly professional technical and innovation capabilities.”

Furthermore, McCormick’s passion for flavour innovations contributed to the McCormick’s net sales all over the globe:

Global net sales: $3,336.8 billion USD in 2010 with 10 per cent coming from innovations launched over the past three years
EMEA net sales: Approximately 21 per cent of global net sales with 14 per cent coming from consumer sales and 7 per cent from industrial sales

Over the past few years, in addition to completing the TIC in Haddenham, McCormick have been developing TICs in Australia and China, upgraded four pilot technical plants in EMEA including one in Littleborough, UK with new testing equipment and upgraded two TICs in South Africa and in the United States.

For further information, please visit http://www.mccormickcorporation.com/. For information about Flavour Forecast 2011, please visit http://www.flavourforecast.com/.