CARSON, Calif. - Leiner Health Products Inc. manufacturer of store-brand vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements, announced Friday plans to consolidate its manufacturing and packaging operations.
Leiner will consolidate its Fort Mill, S.C. manufacturing and packaging operation by the end of September 2007 into other facilities, with the Fort Mill facility continuing to distribute products to customers. The consolidation will affect 500 employees at the Fort Mill plant.
Fort Mill’s manufacturing operations will move to Leiner’s Wilson, N.C. and Garden Grove, Calif. facilities, and its packaging operations will be transitioned to the Leiner’s Carson, Calif. plant. OTC products will continue to be manufactured at the Wilson facility.
The consolidation will align Leiner’s operating expenses with management’s revenue expectation for fiscal 2008 and 2009, which has been revised following the recent events affecting its over-the-counter (OTC) business. With the consolidation, Leiner is reaffirming its commitment to ensuring alignment with the FDA as it moves to resume OTC production and distribution.
“The Company will incur more than $40 million in costs related to quality upgrades, remediation of plants, inventory re-proofs and reserves, all in an effort to meet our future quality initiatives. The Company has created a plan to reduce costs by more than $50 million per year in the future, including a $30 million cost reduction through the consolidation of our Fort Mill manufacturing and packaging operations into other facilities. We will use tireless efforts to outplace the more than 500 men and women of Fort Mill,” said Robert Kaminski, Leiner’s CEO.