A human nutrition company broke ground in Ankeny today (Friday) for a new plant. Paul Faganel, the president of Embria Health Sciences, says the building will also serve as the company’s corporate headquarters. He says they’ll have 40-thousand square feet of total space that includes the manufacturing area and office space.
Faganel says Embria Health is an outgrowth of Diamond V. Mills, a 63-year-old Cedar Rapids company that makes animal products. Faganel says they manufacture a human dietary supplement for the immune system that’s made from a fermented mash that’s sold all over the world.
Faganel says they got the process for making the human supplements from the parent company, but felt it was time to break off into a new facility. He says they’ve always wrestled with having a single manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids and says now they have the ability to continue production at one of two plants if there’s a problem.
Faganel says they also want to be near Iowa State University for research reasons. He says they hope to complete construction by this summer. Faganel says they hope to be up and running by July first of 2007. Faganel says they currently have eight employees and hope to expand to 30 by 2009.
