Amway investing nearly $180 million in U.S. manufacturing expansion to meet global demand for NUTRILITE™ brand vitamin and dietary supplements

ADA, Mich., May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Amway is investing nearly $180 million to significantly expand U.S. manufacturing and processing capacity to meet growing global demand for its top-selling NUTRILITE™ brand of vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120523/DE12279-INFO-a )
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110314/DE64745LOGO-a )

This investment includes a new $81 million nutrition plant at the company's Spaulding Avenue site in Ada, Michigan, near Amway World Headquarters. The new plant is expected to create 200 jobs over the next three years.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) today approved a $1.6 million Michigan Business Development Program incentive from the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) to support construction of this nutrition products manufacturing facility for Access Business Group LLC, an affiliate of Amway. 

The incentive played a key role for Amway in selecting Michigan over competing sites in other states. Amway, MEDC and The Right Place worked together to bring this project to Michigan.

"NUTRILITE is integral to the future of Amway as the world's number one selling vitamins and dietary supplements brand," said Amway Chairman Steve Van Andel and President Doug DeVos in a joint statement. "By bringing a second nutrition product manufacturing plant to our home market of Michigan, we are helping our distributors meet the growing customer demand for our NUTRILITE brand products. We are pleased to work in partnership with the MEDC and The Right Place in bringing this investment to West Michigan. This type of collaboration is critical in driving long-term business growth across the state."

"Amway, with more than 4,000 employees currently in Michigan, is a major employer in our state and its decision to expand here says much about our improved business climate," said MEDC President and CEO Michael A. Finney. "Amway's continued commitment sends a message that will be heard around the world that Michigan's highly competitive business climate and tremendous workforce capabilities mean real opportunities for leading edge businesses."  

Nutrition product sales last year accounted for 45 percent, or $4.7 billion, of Amway sales. Alticor, parent company to Amway and Access Business Group LLC, reported 2011 sales of $10.9 billion. 

"Amway's investment is very encouraging to The Right Place, and to the region as well, as this announcement demonstrates that manufacturing remains strong and growing in West Michigan.  We applaud Amway for expanding NUTRILITE brand operations and workforce in its hometown.  We are pleased to see 200 new Amway jobs added to the region," said Birgit Klohs, President and CEO, The Right Place, Inc.

The overall investment involves in four operations, including two facilities that will produce nutrition products for Amway in Michigan for the first time:

• Ada, Michigan – Spaulding Avenue site: New nutrition soft gels and tablet manufacturing operation. Investment: $81 million. Jobs: 50 at start-up, 200 anticipated over a three-year period.
• Ada, Michigan – World Headquarters complex: A new nutrition powder products plant unveiled February 15 is expected to start production this year. Investment: $24 million. Jobs: 50
• Buena Park, California: Scheduled for 2012 construction, project includes a new granulation facility to support tablet manufacturing; new research and development facilities and pilot laboratories; and a two-story professional office building. Total investment: $42 million. Jobs: No change.
• Quincy, Washington: Announced April 2, a new extraction and concentration operation for ingredients grown at the company's organic farm operations in nearby Trout Lake. Investment: $31.8 million. Jobs: 30

About Nutrilite
NUTRILITE™ is the world's No. 1 selling vitamins and dietary supplements brand* offered exclusively from Amway. The NUTRILITE brand is the only global vitamin and mineral brand to grow, harvest, and process plants on its own certified organic farms.**  Farms are located in Washington, Mexico and Brazil. NUTRILITE products are manufactured by Access Business Group LLC, an affiliate of Amway. (www.nutrilite.com).

About Amway
Amway (amway.com) is one of the world's largest direct selling businesses. Alticor Inc., parent company of Amway, reported global sales of $10.9 billion in 2011. Founded in 1959 by entrepreneurs Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, and based in Ada, Michigan (United States), Amway offers consumer products and business opportunities through a network of more than 3 million distributors in more than 80 countries and territories worldwide. The top-selling brands for Amway are NUTRILITE™ vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements, ARTISTRY™ skincare and colour cosmetics, and eSpring™ water treatment systems. The company provides product development, manufacturing and logistics services through its Access Business Group and Alticor Corporate Enterprises divisions. For company news, visit www.globalnews.amway.com. For media questions, contact Public Relations at 616-787-7565 (Michigan, United States) or [email protected].

*Source Euromonitor International Limited; Vitamins and Dietary Supplements, World, Retail Value RSP, 2010.

** "Source Euromonitor International Limited; Based on 2010 RSP sales (US$) of Vitamins and Dietary Supplements (VDS) across all retail channels.  VDS includes mineral supplements, fish oils, dietary supplements, tonics and bottled nutritive drinks and child-specific vitamins and dietary supplements. "Global Presence" for a brand is defined as having at least a 0.1% regional value share in a least four of the seven global regions. To challenge the claim, brand owners must at least partially own and control the production process, from farms where ingredients are grown to the plants were the brand is manufactured. Brand owners must not only own farms where inputs used in the manufacture of a brand are planted, grown and harvested, but these farms must also be organically certified. Based on Euromonitor research for Amway Corporation. To the extent permissible, Euromonitor does not accept or assume responsibility to any third party in respect of this claim.

SOURCE Amway