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16 October 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a division of Colgate-Palmolive, opened its newest manufacturing plant in Tonganoxie on Monday.
The governor, Leavenworth County and Tonganoxie officials were on hand for the ribbon cutting.
The 365,000-square foot, fully designed smart facility will increase the company’s production capacity for canned pet food and provide continued expansion of Hill’s Science Diet brands.
The plant features advanced digital monitoring of pet food-making processes and end-to-end and AI-driven vigilance over food quality and safety protocols. The plant will deploy autonomous mobile robots, enabling employees to focus on “value-added” tasks.
“For example, we’ll have automated movement of materials throughout the factory using our robot dog Buddy over here. We’ll have automated quality checks and automated checks of the food safety standards as it runs through the plant,” said Peter Brons-Poulsen, president and CEO of Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
The Hill’s plant currently employs 100 people and will make 170 varieties of wet food with the recently relaunched Hill’s Prescription Diet k/d.
“This investment by Hill’s Pet Nutrition is a testament to my administration’s success in creating a pro-business economy, including for the animal health industry,” Gov. Laura Kelly said. “I’m delighted our unique Animal Health Corridor continues to expand, growing our economy and supporting communities like Tonganoxie.”