Amway, Ada, MI, has opened the Amway Botanical Research Center (ABRC), a $13 million facility in Wuxi, China. The company will study plants associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) at the site for potential future use in its health and beauty products.
 
Built on 34-hectares (84-acres) of farmland, the ABRC includes an advanced laboratory, large greenhouse and will be used for research on soil nutrients, plant physiology, extract quality standards and processes.
 
“Our Nutrilite brand of vitamins and dietary supplements were first formulated after the brand’s founder, Carl Rehnborg, observed how the use of plants and botanicals in China promoted optimal health and natural balance,” said George Calvert, Amway’s chief officer of global R&D and supply chain. “The new ABRC is our effort to research and understand Chinese botanicals to a greater extent– using the most advanced technology and scientific practices – and integrate the findings into our products.”
 
The opening of the ABRC completes a five-year process to develop the site.  For three years, Amway examined numerous locations in an effort to find optimal growing conditions that could match high standards at the company’s certified organic farms in Brazil, Mexico and the U.S.  Many of the company’s product ingredients are grown on these farms’ 6,400 acres, and at certified partner farms. 

Following selection of the Wuxi location, the site was optimized over a period of more than two years and facilities were built to support the examination and research of crops harvested from the land.