Tell us about Kerry Ingredients India’s ongoing activities?
| Shivaji Kamble |
Kerry Ingredients India manufactures and delivers technology-based ingredients, flavours and integrated solutions for the pharma as well as food and beverage (F&B) industry. Our unique, integrated approach to customer-specific innovation and product solutions is driven by our technology, market application, culinary and sensory expertise.
What is the company’s mission and vision?
We aim to become the world leader in food ingredients and flavours serving for the pharma and F&B industry. Through our skills and wholehearted commitment of the employees, Kerry will be a leader in the selected market, excelling in product quality, technical and marketing creativity as well as service.
Adulteration of food ingredients and dietary supplements is an ongoing issue. Does the company face similar issues in India, as well as in developed countries?
Kerry has a total quality philosophy into its complete product life cycle. We have global systems and policies to ensure the highest quality and safety.
International Pharmaceuti cal Excipients Council (IPEC) intends to open an office in Mumbai. What is your take on this?
We are an active member of IPEC and our manufacturing processes are GMP compliant with IPEC guidelines. Having an IPEC India office will help to further align the industry globally regarding quality, safety, and functionality standards of excipients into the international marketplace.
There are certain grey areas in Indian quality standards, including the ingredient segment. How difficult is it to conduct business in such a scenario?
Kerry is committed to exceed the cGMP expectations of its pharma customer base with its extensive quality assurance programmes. We have global quality governance with regionally managed quality teams to ensure that all the standards are met.
Entrepreneurs feel that operating business from India is slowly becoming tougher with severe competition. How do you handle this challenge and maintain your stronghold?
We are building on 75 years of innovation, commitment and reliability as a world class excipient supplier. We have a good R&D and manufacturing expertise. No other company can provide the innovative and integrated cell nutrition and excipient solutions that we offer for greater manufacturing performance, improved reliability and cost savings.
What services do you offer to the pharma industry?
We have been a leading manufacturer of media supplements and excipients serving the biotech, pharma and nutrition markets. For cell culture and fermentation applications, we have a vast collection of media supplements including protein hydrolysates, yeast extracts, recombinant proteins, and complex systems that maximise yields and cell performance in biotechnological production systems. Our lactose, tabletting systems, and coatings provide customers with business building solutions for improved tablet manufacturing.
How effective and useful are these services?
Kerry has a reputation of excellence in providing pharma grade film coatings, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), lactose, tabletting systems, and flavours for drug delivery systems. We have a history of leadership, product knowledge, industry expertise, and technologies to deliver the highest quality excipient solutions. Our new innovative products are focused on driving efficiencies in the direct compression tablet manufacturing process.
These include superior products such as:
- The industries most extensive lactose product line of anhydrous, spray dried, crystalline and inhalation grades of lactose for all tabletting applications
- SheffCoat aqueous-based coating systems that are customised, ready-to-use, cost effective solutions
- SheffCel cellulose ethers are HPMC & MC multi-purpose excipients for pharma and nutritional supplement applications
- LubriTose self lubricating systems to simplify the tabletting process by eliminating the need for a separate lubricant.
What regulatory compliances do your products adhere to?
Each batch is produced in accordance within approved specifications and are GMP compliant with IPEC guidelines as well as regional requirements globally. Our products comply with the USP, EP and JP.
How many pharma ingredients have been developed by your company and how many are in the pipeline?
We are constantly researching and developing innovative solutions to solve current industry issues. Customers are coming to us for streamlining their supply chain because we can provide integrated excipient solutions that optimise their manufacturing, expedite the overall development process, improve manufacturing efficiencies; and thus drive greater value for their business. Innovation has been our heritage, starting with anhydrous lactose and continuing today with products like LubriTose. We will continue to develop and offer new innovative products to meet the industry’s demands.
Tell us about Kerry Ingredients India’s strategic partnerships with pharma MNCs?
Particularly in the pharma segment our Sheffield branded products are qualified in the top blockbuster biotech drugs and there are over 700 articles which refer to our products. We have also been awarded supplier of the year for our innovative products, excellent support and customer service by several MNCs.
Are you looking to grow inorganically?
Kerry strategically grows through organic and inorganic growth.
How large is your presence globally? Are there any expansion plans?
Kerry has over 100 manufacturing facilities in 24 countries supplying products to 140 countries. We will expand based on market demands.
What is your manpower strength? Do you plan to scale it up in future?
We have over 24,000 employees strong with global manufacturing, sales, technology, and application centres in 25 countries across the globe. We will expand our base as per the market demands.
What are your corporate plans for the next two to three years?
We are going to continue our investment in research and technologies in order to provide innovative, high quality solutions that will help our customers’ drive greater product performance, improved reliability and optimised manufacturing efficiencies.