Hampshire Pet Products Set A World Record Thanks To Its R&D Efforts
There are lots of world records regarding the pets we adore so much. For instance, the Longest Dog – a Great Dane that measured more than 7 feet from its hind legs to the nose. Tallest Dog? That was Zeus, another Great Dane that was 44 inches tall.
There is even a record for the heaviest dog. The English Mastiff named Zorba from the UK made the Guinness Book of World Records, thanks her massive size. She weighed more than 343 pounds and measured 8 feet 3 inches.
But there is a dog-related record that’s more interesting than all of these. In 2011, Hampshire Pet Products in Joplin, Missouri received an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for making the largest dog biscuit that weighed 617 lb. (279.87 kg). The biscuit was 19 ft. (5.79 m) long, 1.63 inches (0.04 m) deep, and 3.8 ft. (1.16 m) wide. In addition, it required ten bakers to bake it, and it was made to celebrate the firm’s 10th anniversary.
In case you did not notice, the dog biscuit weighed twice as much as poor Zorba (the heaviest dog.) So how was Hampshire Pet Products able to pull it off?
Two months after the deadly Joplin tornado that blew out the south wall of Hampshire’s processing facility, the company, famed for its cold extruded and baked pet treats, got serious about setting a new Guinness world record for the biggest dog biscuit.
But it was not that simple. To turn this goal into a reality, it took the firm three consecutive months of baking trials with strict Research and Development (R&D) times before they could start the real attempt. On the day of the event, the baking procedure alone took four hours.
The company even added a new, secret weapon to its product development arsenal: a test facility.
“We now have our own internal R&D test kitchen, so we can test new products in house with the customer’s help or without the customer’s help,” Curt Dudley, vice president of sales says. “The previous Guinness Record for a dog biscuit was held in the UK and it weighed less than 300 pounds. Our company’s goal was to set a new record with a dog biscuit that weighed more than 400 pounds.”
This focus on R&D is also how Hampshire Pet Products, in partnership with its clients, is able to launch over 60 new products each year. Using the SKALA system, the company collects data during the different points in the baking process, which will be used for R&D purposes to innovate and increase efficiency. The company’s skilled employees have the ability to develop new and custom features for their equipment, providing a competitive advantage by increasing the business’s flexibility and being able to test new items in the market.
