The company said that the centre will give food and beverage manufacturers access to its complete range of research, technologies and applications expertise, and will also incorporate Kerry Ingredients & Flavours EMEA regional management and Kerry Global Business Services.
The new centre will be located on a 28-acre site in the Millennium Business Park, Naas, in Co. Kildare, and is expected to employ 800 people by 2015, with a further 100 positions to be added the following year when the facility is due to be fully operational.
Two hundred people are already working from interim facilities next to the site of the new centre, the company said.
Kerry Group chairman Denis Buckley said: “Working in tandem with the Group’s existing technology and innovation facilities, the new centre will focus Groupwide capability to drive strategic customer engagement and sustainable growth.”
Speaking to FoodNavigator when the centre was first announced in October last year, the company said that the key was speed to the marketplace, as all product development expertise would be under one roof.
Attending the groundbreaking ceremony was Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who said in a statement: “Kerry is a world leader in the food industry and it is most welcome that the Group’s new Technology & Innovation Centre will provide 900 high-skilled positions at the facility on completion as well as 600 construction jobs straight away.”