What We Offer

Westlake Innovation supports pet food and value-added meat businesses across the technical and operational steps required to move from concept through to compliant, scalable production. This includes early feasibility, formulation and process development, regulatory alignment, manufacturing partner selection, and targeted support for troubleshooting and optimisation.

Our work sits at the interface between meat processing capability and pet food product design, particularly where ingredient functionality, manufacturing performance, and market requirements intersect.

Feasibility and Business Strategy

Venn diagram showing the intersection of Customer Desireability, Business Viability, and Technical Feasibility, with the overlap labeled as Innovation.

  • Clarifying product briefs and pathways to market

  • Assessing ingredient functionality and supply constraints

  • Identifying processing implications early

  • Evaluating co-manufacture vs in-house production pathways

  • Financial Modelling

  • Creation of business case documentation to support internal or external investment.

Formulation & Product Development

An assortment of raw meats, canned dog food, and dry dog kibble arranged on a white surface. Includes chicken breasts, beef chunks, canned labeled varieties, and bowls of dog food.

  • Petfood Nutritional Design to AAFCO/FEDIAF standards

  • Product Formulation for health claims

  • Palatability/Taste optimisation

  • Cost and supply risk review

  • Integration with processing constraints

  • Alignment with claims and market positioning.

Process Development & Scale-Up

A complex industrial machine with various pipes, valves, and control panels in a factory setting.

  • Scale-up from Bench to Pilot to Full Scale.

  • Equipment Specification & Capability alignment

  • Thermal Validation

  • Throughput and yield improvement

  • Troubleshooting production variability

  • Development of full product costing

  • Management of product commissioning.

Operational Strategy and Co-Manufacturing Support

Blank white food packaging bag with text "Your Brand Here" on a stainless steel countertop, next to raw meat, a bowl of dried pet food, a bowl of mixed vegetables, and a wooden scoop of sesame seeds in a professional kitchen setting.

  • Identification of suitable co-manufacturing partners

  • Technical capability assessment

  • Management of trial process, testing and evaluation.

  • Ongoing interface between brands and New Zealand based co-manufacturers.

Process Troubleshooting & Optimisation

Computer screen displaying analytics with line graph, bar chart, and data points representing user activity over time.

  • Diagnosing sources of variability

  • Management of critical quality issues

  • Improving yield and consistency

  • Resolving scale-up challenges

  • Supporting continuous improvement activity

Research Strategy & Co-ordination

A person drawing a whiteboard diagram with words and icons about innovation, including elements like culture, policy, networks, skills, infrastructure, money, and knowledge transfer.

  • Identifying appropriate research partners

  • Translating commercial needs into research questions

  • Supporting funding proposal development and project scoping

  • Co-ordinating industry-research collaboration

  • Supporting integration of research outcomes into commercial development programmes.

Get In Touch

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