Kentucky HPP'd business: Avure opens headquarters, R&D lab

The building houses Avure’s corporate offices, an R&D laboratory, and a customer service center. Avure marketing manager Lisa Pitzer told FoodProductionDaily after investing $3m to renovate an existing facility, the company took occupancy in November 2014 but waited until after the holidays to host a ribbon cutting event.

Avure’s move to the Cincinnati metropolitan area puts its management, R&D, and customer support functions less than an hour’s drive from its equipment manufacturing plant in Middletown, Ohio. Avure’s head office was previously located in Franklin, Tennessee.

Movin’ on up

“This is our second major move in two years​,” Pitzer said. “All our manufacturing had been done in Sweden before we opened our US factory in Middletown in the fall of 2013.”​

“So now, we have a dual advantage. First, both our manufacturing and our R&D are now being done here in the US.”​

“Second, our headquarters location is right by the Cincinnati airport — it’s much more convenient for our customers,” ​she said. “Now, they can come to our lab and then drive up to see the manufacturing plant that same day. We used to have to set up complex travel arrangements.”​

Despite its many benefits, relocating did have one downside: some employees opted not to make the move. “One scientist relocated, and some of our people are choosing to commute (between Franklin and Erlanger),”​ Pitzer said.

Poised for growth

The move to Erlanger has put the company in a better position geographically, as a significant percentage of Avure’s customers are located within a two-hour drive from headquarters. In addition, Pitzer said the relocation was well timed because Avure is growing.

“HPP is an exciting technology and it's an exciting time to be in this business,”​ she said. “We’re growing and so are our customers who are in our tolling network.”​

Pitzer explained that Avure and 10 of its customers— nine in the US and one in Canada — have established a network of contract HPP service providers.

All 10 companies in the network have two things in common: Avure HPP equipment and unused processing capacity. Food manufacturers who don’t have the money or the production space for an Avure system can get started in HPP processing by contracting with one of Avure’s network providers.

The network includes two facilities in California, as well as plants in Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin. There is also a facility in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada.