Personal care products manufacturer Ontex has just opened an R&D centre at its Segovia plant, and focused on innovation in feminine care. Its facilities have in addition been expanded to open new production lines that will increase its capacity in the baby care, feminine hygiene and adult care categories.

The new R&D centre, the Belgian company's sixth, marks a milestone in its global innovation strategy. Located within the production plant, its main objective is to improve manufacturing efficiency in order to reduce the time to market for new products. In addition, it will develop sustainable processes including the use of environmentally friendly materials and lower carbon techniques. It will also promote smart, cost-effective and reliable product innovations to meet new customer needs.

Investment plan
The opening of the new R&D centre is part of an investment plan to expand the site's innovation and manufacturing capabilities. In the last two years, the company has boosted this factory by introducing new production lines, which have grown from 16 in 2022 to 25 at the start of this year, and with more to follow in the future, according to further expansion plans.

The investment plan also envisages further automation of existing production lines to improve capacity. All this growth is to be accompanied by an increase in employment. The Segovia plant has already grown from 300 to almost 700 employees in recent years, and it now plans to create another 100 jobs.

Job creation
Chief Innovation and Sustainability Officer Annick de Poorter says that these two concepts, innovation and sustainability, “are at the heart of everything we do at Ontex. With the R&D centre in Segovia, we are building a dynamic ecosystem that brings together suppliers, partners and customers to co-create solutions that make everyday life easier for everyone. By fostering partnerships and collaboration, we can drive customer-centric innovation on a global level.”

The company's Industrial Director for Southwest Europe, José Ignacio Luengo, did in turn underline its commitment to the local community: “In the last few years, we have doubled our workforce from 300 to almost 700 employees today, with over 200 new employees recently joining the Ontex family. The expansion will create over 100 additional job opportunities, further boosting the local economy and helping to retain young talent in the Castile and León region.”

^{Photo: Ontex}