DevelopOhio

Food manufacturer AdvancePierre Foods Inc., one of the largest companies in Butler County, has opened a new “customer Innovation & Research Center” in West Chester, the Journal-News reports. The center “consists of laboratory space and meeting rooms meant to help develop products needed to grow the business,” according to the article. The company is already the second largest privately held company in the Tristate “according to the Deloitte Cincinnati USA top 100 list,” with revenues of $1.6 billion last year. AdvancePierre employs approximately 1,000 people in West Chester Township, “which is also the site of a major meat processing operation,” according to company officials. The new center includes a sandwich and bakery lab, a receiving room, and a sensory lab. Bernie Panchot, senior vice president of research and development, said in a written statement, “[i]t’s about trend-forward thinking, responsiveness, cost management, speed to market and consistency. It’s about identifying opportunities and solving the problems customers face . . . [h]eightened customer intimacy and collaboration empower us to detect these opportunities and to better solve these problems, ultimately, delivering an experience our customers will crave.”