Döhler announced the installation of a cutting-edge automated flavor robot at its R&D facility in Princeton, N.J., enabling customers to benefit from faster flavor sampling, more precise formulations and smoother scale-up into production.

This milestone strengthens its ability to speed up market launches and deliver consumer-relevant, winning flavors – reinforcing our global commitment to innovation and long-term growth.

This investment is part of our strategy to achieve the fastest flavor sample turnaround times in the industry, modernizing and future-proofing our flavor development by incorporating the latest digitization and creation tools to deliver winning flavors.

The Princeton site was selected for its central role in our U.S. innovation pipeline and its strong track record of cross-functional collaboration. The need for faster, more precise sample development – especially in complex beverage applications – made it the ideal location for this high-tech upgrade.

The new flavor robot can automatically handle up to 300 liquid raw materials, supported by manual weighing stations for added flexibility. This combination of automation and expert oversight enables the rapid production of high-quality samples while improving accuracy and repeatability. It’s a powerful tool for accelerating the development, optimization and testing of new flavor formulations.

Compared to previous manual methods, this system significantly reduces lead times and minimizes the margin of error, allowing our teams to test and refine formulations with greater agility. Early use cases include prototypes for functional beverages, flavored waters and premium ready-to-drink teas – demonstrating the machine’s versatility across multiple flavor categories.

Paul Graham, President of Americas, said, “This machine is a game changer – it allows us to move from concept to prototype in a fraction of the time, while ensuring each formulation meets our highest quality standards.”