Royal Canin Around the World

Our Heritage

Royal Canin was founded in France, in 1967 by a veterinarian, Dr Jean Cathery, who was dedicated to the development of highly nutritional and specialized food for dogs and cats. From those humble beginnings in a small French village, Royal Canin is now recognized as a leader in pet nutrition and sells its products around the world. Royal Canin is committed to improving the quality of life for cats and dogs by continually developing new products and breed-specific formulae that provide optimum nutrition.

A Company of World Firsts

Ever since its beginnings, Royal Canin has continuously achieved major global breakthroughs in dog and cat nutrition.

In 1980, Royal Canin was the first company in the world to launch a food designed to meet the specific growth needs of large breed puppies. It was this world ‘first’ that made the launch of Size Health Nutrition possible 17 years later in 1997. This first ever program took into account the true nutritional needs of small, medium and large sized dogs in the MINI, MEDIUM and MAXI programs. The next nutritional breakthrough was defining the four major parameters of Heath Nutrition; Age, Activity, Physiological State and Size/Breed. These four parameters have evolved to become a standard approach across the world for other players in the dog and cat food markets.

Royal Canin continues the pursuit of knowledge and innovation and define the foundation of a new approach to Health Nutrition with food targeted to fulfill physiological and nutritional needs of specific breeds. Thanks to the irreplaceable expertise of the breeders and veterinarians, Royal Canin has continued to launch increasingly precise and targeted foods.

Research & Development

Remaining faithful to its philosophy of Lean Production, Royal Canin has concentrated all its business activities on the same site in Aimargues, France. With 24 hectares of unique land at its disposal, the Royal Canin site accommodates all the vital functions of the company: The Plant, The Analysis Laboratory, The Research & Development Facility, The Kennels & Cattery, The General Management for France as well as The General Management and Central Departments of the Royal Canin Group (Marketing, Purchasing, Legal Department, Financial Department and Accounting Department). The Royal Canin Campus, officially declared open on September 28, 2001, brings together all the sources of knowledge of dogs and cats, the real clients of the business. The Kennels & Cattery was designed in collaboration with Veterinarians, Dog Technicians and Cat Technicians. This unique tool accommodates 130 dogs from 20 different breeds and 120 cats from 15 different breeds. They are looked after by animal keepers who are devoted to them. The animals' wellbeing is ensured by a specially designed environment: pens, watering holes, games and music in the boxes.

At the Royal Canin Campus, there is strictly no invasive animal testing conducted. The only studies performed involving the animals are palatability and digestibility trials. For palatability trials the animal makes a "blind test" as it chooses between two foods. Rest periods (one to three weeks) systematically alternate with these testing periods to determine the digestibility of our foods this process involves examination of the canine and feline faeces.

The Analysis Laboratory reports to the Research & Development department. The laboratory carries out all in-depth studies on the food itself, such as analyzing proteins, fats and carbohydrates levels etc. First, it validates and approves the suppliers; it provides support to the plant laboratories, validating the proper quality of the raw materials received. It analyses the products coming out of the pilot station. This is all conducted with a view to further improving the company's reaction capability and the quality of its food products. In order to achieve such growth over the last eight years, Royal Canin has been implementing strategic, commercial and technical change focusing on quality.

The industrial investments made by Royal Canin over the years has made it possible to reengineer The Group Production Plants to the highest quality standards and to build plants that are modern, innovative and, primarily, competitive.

Lean Production is based on a simple philosophy:

• The removal of all activities without added value
• The elimination of all waste
• The reduction of operational problems
• It is based on three main principles:
  
      - Making it easier for collective intelligence to be shared
      - Constantly asking questions
      - Refusing to simply accept the status quo
   
• Reactivity and Adaptation

By bringing all functions closer, the redesigning of flow development plans enables the new plants to be brighter, simpler (in-line just-in-time production), more compact and flexible, better controlled and therefore with a greater reaction capability. Each located in the heart of its market, the plants at Cambrai and Aimargues in France, Rolla in the USA, Descalvado in Brazil, Gonzales Catan (Buenos Aires) in Argentina, Johannesburg in South Africa and Dimitriov (Moscow) in Russia enjoy a decisive edge in terms of reaction capability, adaptation and logistical costs.