This weekend marked the celebration of 50 years for the Unilever plant operating in Jefferson City.
The history of the operation can be traced back to 1965 when Jefferson City voters approved a $5.5 million industrial bond to attract Chesebrough-Pond's to build a new production center. Construction on the 70-acre tract of land at what is now West Truman Boulevard and North Missouri 179 began late that year. By November 1966, the first Q-tips came off the production line.
In 1967, the lipstick department opened, and plant employment grew. In 1966, there were 102 employees, but with the new department opening, the payroll went up to 650.
Also in 1967, the plant added services such as glass packaging, plastic manufacturing and compounding. This is when it started making Vaseline Intensive Care hand lotions, curlers for Rave permanents and printing packaging materials at their in-house packaging department. The production of cough syrup, nail polish and nail polish remover also began at this time.
Employment peaked in the late 1970s when 1,300 people worked at the facility, and warehouse expansion occurred in 1981.
In 1986, Unilever acquired Chesebrough-Pond's for $3.1 billion, and in 1987 the distribution center opened.
In 1991, the first two-chamber toothpaste came off the production line at the Jefferson City plant.
In 2002, Q-tips production was moved to Puerto Rico, and Volume Hair Care production moved to Chicago.
While those lines moved out, from 2004-09, the plant added Dove, Suave, Axe and Sunsik to its production lists with more expansions to the plant through 2014 bringing the facility up to 11 high-speed filling lines.
Currently, 460 people work the 24/7 shifts, which have been in place since 2001.
Company officials said the starting salary for an assembler when the plant opened in 1966 was $1.45 an hour. Today, that job is classified as technical operator with a starting salary of $17.58 an hour.
Twenty years ago, Joe Roy was plant manager and now his son, Doug, has been doing the same job for the last 31/2 years.
"It's a weird circle," Doug said. "I'd say the biggest change is the growth in technology. We have one of the fastest production lines for one of our products with 21 robots. It can be challenging, but it gives us new capabilities and improves the quality of the product as well as keeping employees safe."
Doug said the company continues to invest in people and technology.
"Our volume growth goes up every year," he said. "We put out 550 million bottles in a year. We are the largest personal care liquid facility in the world."
Doug believes as long as the Jefferson City facility remains cost competitive, he sees a bright future for Unilever.
"You couple that with a skilled workforce and automation, I see more potential expansion happening," he said. "We have a real competitive landscape right now, with niche manufacturers making their way into the market as well as the large companies. With the right workforce, that keeps this plant well positioned for the future."