Standard Process invests in multimillion dollar facilities
with projected growth, as plans to add new lines and extend
existing ones suggest the company's business model is working.
The manufacturer of whole food nutritional supplements has begun construction of a 100,000-square-foot addition to its Palmyra, Wisconsin headquarters. The expansion of the existing 160,000-square-foot facility is to make room for more manufacturing and office space.
Standard Process is distinctive in the supplement industry because it oversees product development from the crop stage to finished goods, using its own herbal and plant-derived ingredients wherever possible. And if projected growth is in fact as positive as the company says it is, its 'vertical' development could be a recipe for success.
"Based on historical growth, this expansion should allow us to handle our projected growth for the next 10-15 years," Standard Process director of marketing Tammi Geiger told NutraIngredients-USA.com.
Standard Process also differs from other supplement companies in that all of its 160 products are available only through health care professionals.
The company says it is continuously researching consumer needs, but did not pinpoint any particular directions in which it could take its product lines. Its existing supplements are designed to promote a gamut of physiological systems, including: endocrine, cardiovascular, digestive, hepatic, respiratory, skeletal and renal.
Many of Standard Process' raw materials are grown on company-owned, organically certified farms. The company says it processes raw materials using exclusive techniques that meet the US Food & Drug Administration's good manufacturing practices.
The new facilities will include individual production suites for each manufacturing process, new manufacturing equipment, additional warehouse space and updated offices.
According to Geiger, the company plans to incorporate new technology to help reduce manufacturing costs. The investment is purely on the manufacturing side of operations.
"It will definitely have a negative effect on profitability in the short term but it really is a long term investment for the future of this company," said Geiger.
And the 'long term' is something Standard Process seems to do well. Founded in 1929, the company is in the third generation of family ownership.
The expansion project is set to take 12 months to complete, with 40 new jobs added to its current payroll of 200 over a two-year period.
