Business View Magazine | December 2018

102 103 advanced biotech resents about 10 percent of our business,” says Blackburn. “We have two very big customers –one is Clorox, which owns a company called Renew Life.” Renew Life sells high-potency probiotics, digestive aids, and internal cleanses. “And, just recently, a company called Isagenix, a very big XYMOGEN mated equipment for blister packs, which Renew Life and Isagenix will use. Blister packs are, by far, the best delivery form for probiotics because they eliminate oxygen and moisture – it’s aluminum on aluminum and product can last a very, very long time because of the barrier.” XYMOGEN has always been an environmental- ly-conscious company, and Blackburn has some new plans which help continue that commitment. “We were the very first corporate sponsor of Clean Seas, which is a United Nations initiative,” he notes. “We put their logo on all our cartons and we’re looking to do our part to try and reduce the impact of plastics in the ocean.We have a single-serve machine for protein powders, which is a pretty significant part of what we do, and all of our dose packs and all of our stick packs we’re moving into cartons as a part of our Clean Seas Initiative; that’s 76 different products that we’re moving out of plastic and into cartons. The single serve machine is very high speed–210 of those network marketing company, estimated that the order we get from them for next year will be $50 million. This year, our business is projected for about $130 million, so that’s a rather signif- icant increase just for that one company.We’re probably one of the most advanced pro-biotic manufacturing companies in the country, and that’s why these top level companies choose us.” “So, the CMO business can be extraordinary and, in order to handle that business, we’re investing between $12 and $15 million in build-out for new manufacturing space,” Black- burn adds. “We moved our whole fulfillment operation, which is about 30,000 square feet, to the new building next door, and it’s now being built out for new manufacturing– so that dou- bles our manufacturing capacity. As part of our expansion, we built a very large drive-in cooler that includes insulation and humidity control. And we ordered some very high speed, auto-