Proctor & Gamble plans plant expansion in Dover

DOVER – Procter & Gamble (P&G) is setting its sights on expansion at its Dover plant, eyeing an additional 130,000 square feet as it looks to bring more job and manufacturing opportunities to the area while making the current plant more efficient.

The plant, located at 1340 W. North St., sits on just over 84 acres and has several phases of expansion in the works including the current projects that seek to bring additional truck and employee parking, as well as square footage for its warehouse needs.

P&G site in the First State’s capital city currently employees close to 200 people, which is only a small portion of the company’s worldwide footprint of about 97,000 employees total.

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It is known for manufacturing and distributing a variety of products in the personal care, health care and household industries to name a few with brand names under its umbrella such as Old Spice, Gillette, Pepto-Bismol, Tide, Bounty, Crest, Olay and others. The Dover plant is used to manufacture Pampers Sensitive and Complete Clean wipes and distributes Pampers Aqua Pure and Luvs wipes.

This expansion would be the first of four phases in the international company’s master plan that will benefit the Dover plant and the local area, according to Bob Palmer of Beacon Engineering who spoke to the Dover Planning Commission about the project in June.

“The point of this project is not only expansion of the growing need for Procter & Gamble’s products, but it’s also a facility efficiency project. There is a shortage of warehousing space for both raw materials and finished products and a shortage of trailer space on the property,” he said.

Expanding on current efficiency-based issues present at the plant, Palmer explained the process by which raw materials and manufactured products make it to and from production with some trucks being sent away from the plant’s gate at first to nearby trailer drop sites until the product is needed, increasing truck traffic in the area.

Improving that process through updates to the plant’s property could reduce truck traffic in the nearby area by 26 to 30% as they work to eliminate the duplicative moving of product currently seen at the site and on nearby roads, he added.

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The Delaware Division of Small Business (DSB) is helping many small business owners overcome this hurdle through its Encouraging Development, Growth and Expansion (EDGE) Program.

Zach Prebula, business developer at the Kent Economic Partnership, offered support for the project to the commissioners during the June meeting, stating that it was a great example of a major employer in the area looking forward to business retention and expansion opportunities.

“In 2021, we had the Rockport 2.0 Study completed and this study identified warehousing and manufacturing as our local target companies for Kent County and Dover and this expansion is looking to touch on both of those target industries,” he said.

Dover Principal Planner Dawn Melson-Williams told the Delaware Business Times recently that the Planning Commission gave a conditional approval for the local project and the company is now working through its next steps.

P&G is now working to get approvals from various agencies such as the Fire Marshall’s office before it can request a final site plan review which is an administrative process. If approved at that point, P&G can move forward by requesting building permits for phase one of the expansion projects which includes the parking lot improvements.

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