Innovation, diversification drive KENT 

ANKENY, Iowa – “Change has to happen. We’re either going to lead it or get left behind by it,” Gage Kent, third-generation CEO and president of Muscatine-based KENT Corporation, told attendees at the Association of Business and Industry (ABI) Manufacturing Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 5. From its Iowa beginnings in 1927 as a livestock feeds […]

ANKENY, Iowa – “Change has to happen. We’re either going to lead it or get left behind by it,” Gage Kent, third-generation CEO and president of Muscatine-based KENT Corporation, told attendees at the Association of Business and Industry (ABI) Manufacturing Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 5. From its Iowa beginnings in 1927 as a livestock feeds manufacturer founded in Indianola by Mr. Kent’s grandfather, KENT Corporation has embraced change throughout its history, Today, KENT has growing into a global manufacturing powerhouse with four operating companies, plants spanning three continents, 2,000 employees and a bevy of products ranging from feeds to food and beverage ingredients and pet products, including the World’s Best Cat Litter.

In a good-humored speech, peppered with slides and videos, Mr. Kent shared insights on how the company has succeeded with a strategy of innovation and diversification. “We started as a livestock feed business,” he said, “but we’ve gone a little bit past that.” Across KENT’s four operating units — Nutrition Group, Precision Foods Group, Pet Group and Grain Processing Corporation (GPC), the company operates from 40 locations, including manufacturing facilities, sales and technical offices, and has sales into nearly 100 countries. Focused on long-term value, a family-oriented culture and growing sustainability, KENT has won the U.S. Best Privately Managed Companies Award, sponsored by Deloitte Private and the Wall Street Journal, for three years running. “Values is where I spend most of my time,” Mr. Kent said, showing slides of KENT’s vision and mission statements, which call for creating value through innovative foods and ingredients for families and applying core values to deliver long-term “reasonable and consistent financial returns. “ KENT has long taken employee needs and welfare to heart, he said, presenting statistics showing employee satisfaction with the firm’s encouragement of community involvement. KENT employees report 33.5 hours per year of volunteer service during normal work hours – 75.6% say they feel supported by their employer to volunteer and 28% serve on a volunteer board of directors, according to a recent survey. On the sustainability front, Mr. Kent said his company has spent millions of dollars reducing emissions. At the GPC plant in Muscatine, which breaks corn kernels down to their basic elements for processing into products such as starch, alcohol and other manufacturing as well as food and beverage ingredients, emissions have been reduced 95% in the last five years, Mr. Kent said. KENT’s companies continue to emphasize research and innovation, working on plant-based products, new kinds of packaging, scientific achievement and the future of agriculture, he added.  “Growth will continue to be domestic and world-wide. We are cultivating the fourth and fifth generations of family members,” he said in closing. “Quality of earnings is key.” For more on the Mr. Kent’s keynote to ABI manufacturers, see the QCBJ’s print edition Monday, Oct. 17.