Nutraceuticals World (NW): Do you still see supply chain issues in the market? What are your expectations for this year in terms of balancing supply and demand?

Brent Laffey, President, Armada Nutrition (a sister company of Prinova): Although some supply chain challenges persist, the impact on our customers has not been as intense as in the recent past. While some may be facing longer lead times due to shortages of some raw ingredients, packaging lead times are showing signs of improvement.

A select few raw ingredients are still experiencing longer lead times compared to most within the contract manufacturing industry, but without any unforeseen disruptions we can expect a continued and steady improvement throughout 2023.

NW: What impact are inflation and economic pressures having on the market? How are you balancing those pressures?

Laffey: Brands are now holding more inventory and in some cases slowing production. We are thankful to maintain strong relationships and partnerships and we are proud of our capability to creatively pivot and redirect line time to serve different customers effectively.

This provides us with the flexibility to use excess production time and offer shorter lead times as the supply chain improves. We can run into some roadblocks with flavor lead times being extended, but we can provide solutions here as well.


NW: What product development trends or health areas do you see or anticipate?

Laffey: Currently, there is a huge interest in gut health and its overall impact on wellness. This interest has resulted in the increased development of many products within probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes. We are seeing many customers strategize and innovate to incorporate these ingredients into their offerings.

A second trend that has gained a lot of traction is the focus on nootropics and cognitive function products. With an aging population increasing the demand for solutions to improve brain function, focus, and performance, we can anticipate seeing this trend continue to gain traction.


NW: How do you demonstrate transparency to current and prospective customers?

Laffey: Prinova is one of a select few contract manufacturers that run a dual-quality system inside our facilities. This allows us to use two separate but parallel quality systems in production. With this capability, we are held to a much higher standard of quality, and we communicate these results with our customers. As their trusted partner, we must walk through the entire process and allow our customer to own their IP (including flavor systems), which is not always standard practice within the industry.

Our facility is ISO/IEC 17025 certified, which is a key standard to ensure the competence of testing and calibration. Through this certification, we can provide our customers extra assurance that our testing and results are reliable and valid through our in-house third-party testing. This is an added value for our customers to assure quality.