Church & Dwight to Build New Laundry Detergent Plant in Pennsylvania

Food & Beverage Close-Up, June 8, 2009

FOOD AND BEVERAGE CLOSE-UP-8 June 2009-Church & Dwight to Build New Laundry Detergent Plant in Pennsylvania(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com

Church & Dwight Co. has announced plans to construct a new integrated laundry detergent manufacturing plant and distribution center in York County, Pennsylvania.

The Company said that construction will begin in September, and the site is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2009.

In conjunction with the opening of the new facility, the Company will close its existing laundry detergent manufacturing plant and distribution buildings in North Brunswick, New Jersey.

Our strategically important fabric care business has grown substantially over the past ten years, both organically and through acquisitions such as the Orange Glo International, Inc. brands acquired in 2006, said James R. Craigie, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. This new site will allow us to continue to grow our fabric care business in a facility that can handle the current and anticipated additional base volume growth for our core businesses, support future potential acquisitions and position our business to be among the industry leaders in low-cost production and distribution in the future. Since our fabric care business is our largest business, this initiative will play a key role in helping to drive our long-term goals for revenue growth and gross margin expansion. Specifically, the new site is designed to significantly reduce production and distribution center costs, and is expected to support the Company s annual goal of expanding gross margin by approximately 100 basis points.

The facility will be located in Jackson Township in York County, Pennsylvania, 100 miles from Philadelphia and will occupy an area of roughly 232 acres with 1.1 million sq. ft. of building space with the ability to expand to meet future business needs. The Company said that it has received a great deal of cooperation from local and state officials in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on site development, building construction, permits, and incentives.Church & Dwight s noted that the sustainability goals for the facility include a 30 percent reduction in energy consumption, a 50 percent reduction in solid waste and industrial effluent from manufacturing operations, and the use of renewable energy sources for on-site processing needs. After a year-long search, the Company chose the York County site for its strategic location and its proximity to major highways and railroads.

Church & Dwight Co. manufactures and markets a range of personal care, household and specialty products under the Arm & Hammer brand name and other trademarks.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))