Carlsbad,
California Plant Allows Greater Supply Chain Flexibility and
Supports Higher Volume of Production
CARLSBAD, Calif., May 24, 2023
/PRNewswire/ -- Natural Alternatives International, Inc. ("NAI")
(Nasdaq: NAII) today announced the expansion of its global dietary
supplement contract manufacturing network, providing the ability to
better service existing customers, attract new customers, expand
sales, and provide potential for channel and customer
diversification.
The powder blending and packaging facility
will provide an annual plant capacity of over 26 million pounds of
powder.
The state-of-the-art high-volume powder blending and packaging
facility will provide an annual plant capacity of over 26 million
pounds of powder. The new facility employs 84 and is comprised of
54,154 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space for raw
material and finished product storage. New equipment technologies
include two 400 cubic foot fluidizing paddle blenders, high speed
rotary pouchers, and gravity flow racking.
Mark A. LeDoux, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of NAI stated, "We're very pleased to
announce the commercial opening of our new Carlsbad facility. This milestone presents a
valuable opportunity to bring more jobs to the area and to allow
NAI to further expand our manufacturing capabilities and meet the
growing needs of the dietary supplement powder market. The
Carlsbad expansion adds to our
existing full-service manufacturing facilities in Vista, California and Manno, Switzerland, expanding our capacity to provide
high-quality capsule, tablet and powder supplements for an
international audience."
NAI purchased the facility in August
2021 and has spent the past 21 months retrofitting the space
with a heavy focus on transferring powder with gravity. The design
team utilized every vertical inch to maximize gravity transfer and
leverages large containers called super sacks, to transfer powder
from one process to the next (i.e., weighing to blending then
packaging). This resulted in different ceiling heights for various
parts of the plant. For example, the weigh room ceiling height is
higher than the packaging room height, although they both are on
the ground floor.
Quality was a key priority in the space design and layout. The
site has excellent ingredient sampling at receiving and a physical
laboratory for on-site evaluation prior to releasing materials to
production. Employee Good Manufacturing Practices were well
planned. The flow into and out of the plant is supported by a
gowning room at the entrance, a de-gowning room for the exit, with
an in process gowning room as well. The final packaged product is
100% inspected by an X-ray and check-weigher combination unit to
ensure quality prior to casing.
NAI's dedication to environmental responsibility is noted with a
fully integrated building management system (light, HVAC, etc.),
high bay lighting motion sensors which effectively cycle on and off
based on high ceiling mounted sensors. A maximized solar
panel installation is planned in fall 2023.
"A broad NAI team came together to plan and execute this
state-of-the-art manufacturing facility—management, engineers,
mechanics, and hourly staff—were all involved and supported by our
external team of engineers and architects," shared Kenneth Wolf, President and Chief Operating
Officer of NAI. "With over 40 years in the supplement manufacturing
industry, our expertise grows stronger every year, supported by
quality through proven performance. That's the NAI difference."
About NAI:
NAI, headquartered in Carlsbad,
California, is a leading formulator, manufacturer and
marketer of nutritional supplements and provides strategic
partnering services to its customers. NAI's comprehensive
partnership approach offers a wide range of innovative nutritional
products and services to clients including scientific research,
proprietary ingredients, customer-specific nutritional product
formulation, product testing and evaluation, marketing management
and support, packaging and delivery system design, regulatory
review, and international product registration assistance. For more
information about NAI, please visit www.nai-online.com.
Contact:
Renee
Michaelson
Director of Global Marketing
NAI & CarnoSyn® Brands
(760) 736-7700
info@nai-online.com
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SOURCE Natural Alternatives International, Inc.