With artificial intelligence (AI) playing an integral role, global Irish food business Kerry Group designs new Centre of Excellence to bring sustainable nutrition to 2bn consumers.
In an investment supported by a €7.5m grant from Enterprise Ireland, food and nutrition player Kerry Group has opened a new Digital Centre of Excellence at its Global Innovation Centre in Naas, Co Kildare.
The business said the new centre represents a continuation of Kerry’s successful approach to investing in technology and process enhancement to improve operational efficiency and capability.
“The Digital Centre of Excellence creates exciting opportunities to accelerate our business”
Innovation is a key ingredient in the Irish food firm’s strategy. Kerry already has an R&D team that consists of more than 1,100 food scientists and envisages its sustainable nutrition solutions reaching 2bn consumers by 2030.
Its new Centre of Excellence will focus on driving enhanced business performance and productivity through digital enablement initiatives across operations, R&D, commercial activities, and global business services.
AI to drive business efficiency
Advanced generative AI solutions will be utilised to improve business processes and further enhance customer partnerships.
“The Digital Centre of Excellence creates exciting opportunities to accelerate our business,” said Shane McGibney, chief business transformation officer at Kerry.
“The initiative represents a new aspect of transformation at Kerry. We appreciate Enterprise Ireland’s support and the agency’s ongoing engagement with Kerry over many years.”
Kerry has piloted a number of digital initiatives over the past 12 to 18 months and will upscale their deployment, as well as commencing a range of further digital excellence enablement initiatives over the next 2 years.
The pilot initiatives have included the launch of services such as the KerryNow customer portal, which streamlines and enhances a range of activities, from order tracking and the management of product portfolios, through to value-added services, such as new product development powered by AI and Kerry’s proprietary data.
“This investment is further proof of Kerry Group’s commitment to innovation and commercial excellence,” said Jenny Melia, executive director at Enterprise Ireland.
“Enterprise Ireland has supported this development under the Research, Development and Innovation Fund, which supports investment in large-scale transformation projects to increase company competitiveness and further places Ireland as a market leader in innovation.
“Enterprise Ireland is proud to support this new Centre of Excellence at the Kerry Global Innovation Centre in Kildare and we remain committed to supporting Irish companies like Kerry on their innovation agenda to further build on the resilience and competitiveness of the Irish food sector.”
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