By K. Susan Appleby - SEDCOR
In 1975, Kerr moved to their current location in Northeast Salem. Doing business in the Willamette Valley has its benefits for Kerr. Their central location in the Willamette Valley has allowed them to develop a growers' network that provides a steady shipment of fruit and vegetables. Crops arriving from California in early spring and those maturing later in the year from Washington and British Columbia allow for processing mature ripe fruit when the sugar is most concentrated.
Proximity to Portland and Vancouver for import and export of goods is important to their business. Homeland Security and the influx of massive quantities of imported goods have made the infrastructure of processing shipments critical to the industry. An increased cost of transportation has produced a trend for shipment of products to the east coast to be trucked west. Imports from China, Chile, and Eastern Europe with their advantage of cheap land, cheap labor, and government subsidies has increased the need for food processors to stay competitive with strategic sourcing to keep the cost of raw materials low.
People and processes are what keep Kerr Concentrates ahead. Lean Manufacturing and Lean Enterprise from Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership, have helped keep them competitive, not by a reduction of staff, but by streamlining processes to make the company more efficient. Kerr's dedicated and skilled staff continually experiment with techniques to create new products and to continue their tradition of high quality .
A trend in the food processing industry is evident at Kerr. They provide value added services by offering innovative custom blends, packing and shipping options as both a convenience and cost savings to their customers. Their flexibility to run a custom order is just part of the quality services provided.
Major equipment updates over the past 18 months, along with improved processes have increased the throughput of the facility. The Hopper/Grinder, Finisher, Decanter, Filter and Evaporator upgrade have helped Kerr produce an even better product and reduce energy costs by an estimated 25%. More efficient uses of heat, flow of ingredients, logistic control and material handling also help Kerr Concentrates reach their goals.
State-of-the-art technology utilizes high-speed centrifuge juice and pulp extractions. A superior essence recovery system captures volatile flavor components to assure integrity and freshness, providing pure and natural products.
These processes are geared to improve the recovery of fruit and the ability to process the fruits in an expedient manner allowing Kerr to provide quality over a wide range of products. Always looking forward, a recapture water recovery system and additional machinery upgrades are in the works.
Kerr Concentrates, is associated with the Northwest Food Processors Association, OMEP, SEDCOR and the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce.