As published in Manufacturing & Construction News - December 1, 2016
Construction in progress on Uckele Health’s Blissfield, Michigan facility
Uckele Health constructs
25,000 sf addition
Uckele Health, a Blissfield, Michigan-based manufacturer of nutrition supplements for animals and humans, is nearing completion on a 25,000 square foot addition.
Papenhagen Construction broke ground on the project in September. According to communications coordinator Susan Libby, approximately 10,000 square feet will be used to expand animal plant production, 10,000 square feet will be used for additional warehouse storage, and 5,000 square feet will be used for staging trucks for shipping and receiving.
The company will also be adding another pellet processing line, and will continue to hire in appropriate areas as manufacturing requirements increase, according to Libby. She said growth and process improvements, driven by marketing efforts, quality products, and responsive customer service, compelled the need for expansion.
In 2015, Uckele Health leased a building in north Toledo for additional production and storage needs.
“We have acquired a secondary facility so we can achieve two basic objectives,” Libby said in early 2015. “1) it enables us to back up our manufacturing capabilities in case we experience an interruption to production caused by accidental damage or natural disaster. 2) A secondary facility enables us to accommodate future growth. An example of future growth is the ‘new’ Soft Chew products that we are currently developing. The Toledo facility will provide ample floor space and suitable manufacturing conditions to produce this product.”
Since 1962, Uckele Health & Nutrition has developed and manufactured supplements for the Uckele brand; private and contract label; and custom formulas for horses, dogs, and people. The Uckele team manufactures nutritional formulas from formula-conception to product-on-shelf, formulating a range of high potency, balanced nutritional supplements to support optimal health and performance at the highest level, according to the company.
The Uckele product development team creates hundreds of unique formulas a year to add to its base of thousands. Uckele’s spectrum of supplements starts with basic vitamins and minerals and extends to special needs supplements for joint support, weight management, digestion, immune health, essential fatty acids, metabolism, physical training and performance, cardiovascular health, and more.
The company has been included in the Inc. 5000 every year since 2009, and in 2015 earned revenue of $27.1 million.
Uckele offers customized nutrition for horses through hundreds of specially designed products, whether the horse is a retired pasture pet, a top equine athlete, a healthy maintenance horse, or one with special dietary needs like insulin resistance or arthritis, according to information from the company.
Mike Uckele, CN, CEO and president, has consulted in the areas of nutrition and nutritional biochemistry for over 18 years, developing hundreds of nutritional formulations and programs for people and their animals. A 1992 graduate of Michigan State University, he is a professional member of many health organizations, such as American
College of Sports Medicine, American Oil Chemist Society, International Society of Sports Nutrition, American College for Advancement in Medicine, the American Naturopathic Medical Association, and the Institute for Functional Medicine.
In 2008, the Uckele Health & Nutrition headquarters more than doubled in size with an 18,000 square foot expansion to its original 15,000 square foot facility, which includes manufacturing areas, a retail store, and offices in Blissfield. The expansion was built on the original site founded by William Uckele in the early 1960s.
As a consultant developing nutritional formulations and programs in equine, human, and livestock nutrition, Uckele explained his choice to expand his business in the same location.
“I believe our success grows because we’ve stuck to our core values,” he said at the time of the 2008 expansion. “We keep it simple; we provide high quality products at a reasonable price, we’re responsive to our customer’s needs, and treat them as we’d like to be treated – like the individuals we are.”
