Project Type
Vitamin and supplement manufacturing facility
Location
Northeast Opelika Industrial Park, Opelika, Alabama
Construction Started
November 2011
Opening
June 2013
Investment
$89.6m
Contractors
Whiting-Turner and Industrial Development International
Owner
Pharmavite
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Pharmavite officially opened a new dietary supplement manufacturing facility in the US in June 2013. The facility is located at the Northeast Opelika Industrial Park in Alabama, US. It manufactures vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements of a high quality.
The facility currently provides employment to 245 people and expects to create some additional jobs by the end of 2013.
Details of the Pharmavite nutraceuticals facility
The new manufacturing facility has a total floor space of 330,000ft². It produces vitamins, mineral and supplements (VMS). It is situated in a three-level building at Northeast Opelika Industrial Park.
The facility serves as the east coast flagship production centre for Pharmavite. The products manufactured at the facility go through rigorous testing and third-party verification programmes.
The facility also conducts scientific research on innovating new and groundbreaking vitamin products.
Technology at Pharmavite’s vitamins manufacturing plant
The vitamins manufacturing facility has state-of-the-art machinery which translates products from raw materials to packaged goods.
It is installed with high bay receiving and storage equipment. It has bulk storage tanks which are used for blending, tableting, coating and soft gel manufacturing. It also includes the quality assurance and quality control laboratories.
Products manufactured at the plant in Alabama
The new facility produces Nature Made brand of vitamins, soft gels and tablets. The product portfolio produced at the facility include 250mg Magnesium tablets, Super B Complex tablets, Vitamin D 1000 tablets, 1200mg Fish Oil soft gel, 400mg Vitamin E soft gel and Organic Flaxseed Oil. Nature Made is the largest selling vitamin and supplement brand in the US.
Construction of the vitamin and supplement facility
Construction broke ground for the new manufacturing building in October 2011. The foundation works for the building began February 2012. The plant became operational in January 2013, and was officially inaugurated and attained full capacity production in June 2013.
Contractors involved with construction
The general construction contract for the manufacturing facility was awarded to Whiting-Turner, a company based in Tampa. The Industrial Development International (IDI) based in Atlanta was awarded with a contract to act as the construction manager and oversee the development, design and commissioning of the project in August 2012. It acted as liaison between the contractor and Pharmavite.
Sustainability of the nutraceuticals plant
The nutraceuticals manufacturing facility was constructed with environmental-friendly construction methods. It was constructed to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification from the US Green Building Council.
Financing Pharmavite’s Alabama facility
The total investment for the construction of the facility was about $89.6m. Pharmavite initially financed the project with $73m funding in 2012. It invested another $16.6m in 2013.
Marketing commentary for the US pharma company
Pharmavite is based at Northridge in California, US. It operates as a subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Company. Pharmavite’s core business includes production of high-quality vitamins, minerals, dietary supplements and all natural-foods.
Pharmavite established the new nutraceuticals manufacturing facility at Northeast Opelika Industrial Park in Alabama in order to tap the increasing consumer demand for health and wellness products across the US and internationally.
The demand for dietary supplements in the US has been growing enormously since 1995. The growth of dietary supplements market is expected to be continued until 2020.
According to the Nutrition Business Journal, about 52% of the adult people in the US used vitamins and supplements occasionally in 1999, while consumption increased to 66% in 2010.
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