New Nutrilite Botanical Mfg. Facility Underway

QUINCY, Wash.Amway has broken ground on its new Nutrilite botanical concentrate manufacturing facility in Port of Quincy. The $38 million plant will occupy 48,000 sq. ft. of a 12-acre plot and is designed to process botanicals from the companys nearby Trout Lake Farm operations, the largest certified organic herb farm in North America. Amway said the new Quincy facility will replace the current extraction and concentration operation in Lakeview, California.

Amway said the botanical concentrates processed at the plant, including blueberry, Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea angustifolia, oregano, peppermint and nettles, will  be made available to the company's global manufacturing operations and will be used in Nutrilite's top-selling products.

The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by elected officials, area business and community leaders, and Amway executives, including Sam Rehnborg, Ph.D., president of Nutrilite health Institute and son of Carl Rehnborg, founder of the nutrition company that became known as Nutrilite. Over the last seven decades, Nutrilite has grown from a Quonset hut in southern California to best-in-class agribusiness and manufacturing operations around the world, Rehnborg said. The new site in Quincy is the next chapter in our rich history, and we are honored by the warm welcome we have received here.

Curt Morris, chair/president of Port of Quincy, said the new Nutrilite facility is the first in the region that will be conducting complex value-added agricultural processing and manufacturing, while also using many local crops. "More importantly, this new Nutrilite facility will create jobs and help to further diversify the economy of Quincy and Central Washington, he said.

The expansion is part of Amway's $185 million U.S. manufacturing expansion intended to meet growing global demand for its top-selling NUTRILITE brand of vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements. As part of this initiative, Amway has planned a new $81 million nutrition softgel and tablet manufacturing operation at the companys Spaulding Avenue site in Ada, Michigan; it said the project is expected to create up to 200 jobs over a three-year period. Also in the works is a $24 million nutrition powder products plant expected to create 50 new jobs in Ada, Michigan, and a $42 million project in Buena Park, Calif., featuring a new granulation facility to support tablet manufacturing, new research and development facilities and pilot laboratories, and a two-story professional office building.