Wyeth Pharmaceuticals can crank out 165 million sticks of ChapStick every year at its factory Eastern Henrico County, where it also manufactures Robitussin, Dimetapp, Preparation H and other over-the-counter consumer health products. That’s an impressive performance for a 120-year lip balm that has inspired dozens of competitors and knock-offs around the world.
Business is booming for Wyeth’s consumer health care business, of which the Richmond operations are a significant part. Division revenues rose eight percent in 2007, driven by a 16 percent increase in ChapStick, Advil and other products overseas, reported John Reid Blackwell in the Sunday Times-Dispatch.
Wyeth’s Richmond operations have stayed competitive in the global marketplace by investing in productivity and innovation. On the productivity side, the Darbytown plant has spent $30 million since 2005 on a factory upgrade, including high-speed, robotic packaging equipment for the ChapStick line. Said Scott Denicourt, the plant's managing director: “For us, it’s about innovation. Our focus is to use automation to keep us competitive.”
The shift to automated systems requires more skilled labor than in the past, so Wyeth also has trained its employees to operate computerized systems. “We have a lot more technical people these days,” says Richard Hayes, the plant's senior director of operations. "When I first came here 15 years ago, I was one of the few engineers. Now, we have dozens more."
On the innovation side, Wyeth runs a 250-person research and development center in north Richmond that supports new product development for plants around the globe, including Italy, Canada and China. Products must meet the approval of the federal Food and Drug Administration, as well as public health regulators in other countries.
The lab staff tweaks its products to differentiate them from the generic competition. ChapStick, for instance, comes in more than two dozen varieties, with more in development. The latest: orange sherbert. Says Larry Small, senior vp for global product development: “It tastes like one of those old-fashioned creamsickles.”