8 | Alaron Products REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Global demand behind rapid growth T T Hugh de Lacy Alaron’s services include manufacturing capability for a wide range of products, especially in the nutraceutical, skin-care and dietary supplement categories. The huge overseas demand for natural health products, combined with the trust that overseas marketers and consumers have in the quality of New Zealand’s manufacturing processes, are the factors driving the rapid growth of Nelson company Alaron Products. The 100% New Zealand-owned and operated company exports around 90% of the natural health tablets, capsules, powder-blended and freeze-dried products, creams and gels, tonics and syrups its 237 staff produce at its Nelson factory. Alaron’s services include manufacturing capability for a wide range of products, especially in the nutraceutical, skin-care and dietary supplement categories. And despite the ravages of Covid, blistering inflation and supply-line holdups, Alaron’s continuing growth over the last two years in particular was a key element of its winning earlier this year the Best-in-Business crown at the Nelson Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. The awards acknowledge examples of business innovation, growth and sustainability in the Nelson/Tasman region. Alaron’s General Manager of Business Development, Claire Quin, suspects it was the company’s persistent growth through the upheavals in the global economy that particularly caught the judges’ eye. “That growth is a combination of factors really,” Claire says. “Globally there’s a really big focus around health and well-being. “Supplements are a really great way to support general health and well-being for people with busy, stressful lives. “That demand combines with the quality of our manufacturing processes in New Zealand, and the trust that that inspires especially in overseas product marketers. “Our regulatory and licensing systems reassure brand owners and marketers that they can come here to have products made, especially for markets like Asia. “We’re a contract manufacturer by design, and we manufacture products on behalf of brand marketers. “We don’t market or promote any of our own products – we make them for other people.” Alaron’s products, under the brands of the company’s customers, are distributed world-wide, including the United States, Asia, Europe, South-east Asia and Australia. The home market is smaller but steadily growing. Underpinning the company’s credibility and integrity, and those of the wider New Zealand natural health products sector, is the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification that is based on international standards and is administered in New Zealand by Medsafe under the direction of the Ministry of Health. Alaron Products was one of the first companies in the New Zealand natural health products sector to gain the GMP certification that it has held for more than 20 years. Alaron was a founding member of the industry body Natural Health Products New Zealand (NPHNZ), and is a member of Cosmetics New Zealand and the New Zealand Society of Cosmetics Manufacturers. The company is now one of the largest natural health product manufacturers in the country, and its growth is reflected in the wider sector. Already that sector brings in $2.3b in annual revenues, and NPHNZ says the growing worldwide demand “reflects a growing desire for affordable, effective and holistic healthcare options that complement or replace pharmaceutical products.” Claire Quin endorses that, saying that natural health products are very much an emerging sector in New Zealand. “It’s a sector that’s growing especially by giving greater availability to unique New Zealand ingredients, backed by great science, that have been converted into products sought globally,” says Claire.” This is illustrated by the fact that while most of Alaron’s output is exported, most of the company’s clients are based in Australasia. “Our regulatory and licensing systems reassure brand owners and marketers that they can come here to have products made, especially for markets like Asia. We’re a contract manufacturer by design, and we manufacture products on behalf of brand marketers.” timmillerplumbing.co.nz 0800 PLUMBING merv@timmillerplumbing.co.nz 03 547 4532
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