P&G CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF LOCAL GROWTH AND PEOPLE

Disposable diapers are a relatively new product, but during the 30 years they have been in existence they have captured more than 90 percent of the $4 billion diaper industry.

More than 8 million U.S. babies under the age of 30 months wear disposables, which translates into 15.8 billion diapers being disposed of each year.

Disposable diapers also translate into millions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year at Procter & Gamble, with its Pampers, Luvs and Pamper Trainers; at Kimberley Clark, with its Huggies; and at a number of other smaller disposable diaper manufacturers.

"Procter & Gamble researchers developed Pampers in the 1960s," said Joe Doner, plant manager of one of the company's big diaper-producing facilities at Cape Girardeau. "Today, P&G commands about a 40 percent share of the disposables market."

Many of those diapers are produced at the P&G plant north of Cape Girardeau.

25 years of success

"The plant here opened in 1969," said Doner. "We have had 25 continuous years of successful and profitable operations for Procter & Gamble and the community here.

"I started with P&G at this plant in 1978," said Doner. "I was an assistant production shift manager."

Doner, a graduate of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, transferred from the local plant in 1985, and served at P&G operations in Georgia, Ohio and Kansas City before returning here as plant manager in May 1993.

"I'm pleased to be back in the community," said Doner. "It's an honor to be here as we prepare to celebrate the plant's 25th year."

The plant is still referred to by many as the Charmin plant. Charmin Paper Products Inc., which was acquired by P&G in 1957, was a subsidiary of P&G during planning and opening of the plant here.

Construction started in May 1968 on the plant at the junction of Highway 177 and Route J, 15 miles north of Cape Girardeau. It is on a 1,225-acre site.

From 300 to 1,300

The manufacture of Pampers began the following year with a workforce of just over 300 employees at the facility, which contained about 10 acres under roof. It remained the Charmin Plant until 1976, when it became the Procter & Gamble Paper Products Plant.

Today, the plant here employs more than 1,300 people with a payroll of more than $50 million -- the largest in the Southeast Missouri area -- in a facility with approximately 1,305,750 square feet (30 acres) under roof.

"We have two railroad tracks that enter the warehouse, capable of holding eight railroad cars that deliver raw materials to the plant," said Doner. "We also currently load and ship from 60 to 100 trucks a day with the finished products."

In observance of the 25th anniversary this week, special luncheons are planned for employees and retirees, and a luncheon and tour of the plant is also scheduled for various community leaders.

The plant has become the major employer in the Southeast Missouri area, and with that plays a major role in the area's overall economic picture. The company spends more than $145 million in annual purchases from Missouri suppliers for goods and services such as raw materials, office supplies, and contractor services.

"A lot of those goods and services are purchased in this area," said Doner. "We have plants in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas, but the operation here is the largest of the three."

Spawns new businesses

The local plant has spawned a number of new businesses in the immediate area, including:

-- Miltenberger & Willing (M&W), a plastics packaging manufacturing firm that supplies packaging for P&G's disposable diapers. The company, headquartered in Germany, is across the road from the P&G plant, and employs more than 200 people.

-- Saueressig Engineering, another German-based company, which produces screen printing cylinders. It is near M&W, and provides the screen printing on the packaging for the diapers.

-- Lenertz, a huge warehouse operation along Highway 177 west of Fruitland that provides additional storage for P&G products prior to shipping.

P&G is a community oriented company. Each year the company and its employees provide more than $125,000 to the Area Wide United Way. The company also makes donations to other organizations and collects hundreds of pints of blood for the American Red Cross with its three blood drives each year.

"During the 21 years that P&G has participated in the Area Wide United Way the company and employees have donated a total of $1.8 million to the United Way," said Doner. "Last year's total was over $150,000."

Three years after the plant opened, it employed more than 500 people. In 1972, the size of the Pampers area was expanded.

During the 1970s there were two building expansions -- in 1976 and 1978 -- and a second disposable diaper, Luvs, was added to the plant.

Pamper Trainers added

In May 1984, Always, a feminine hygiene product, was added to the products line. Pamper Trainers were added last year.

"The production of Pamper Trainers was a big shot in the arm," said Doner. "It provided us with another product here and added to job security."

Doner said the company has 100 people remaining who were hired in 1969. "They will be celebrating their 25th anniversary this week with the plant," he said.

"We have enjoyed these 25 years of outstanding successes because of the quality of people who work here," said Doner. "Their skills, training, work ethic and dedication to the principles of Procter & Gamble have made the Cape Girardeau plant a model of the rest of the company for the past 25 years.

Boner is only the fifth manager of the plant.

James I. Bowman, the first, served until mid-1984, when he retired. Bowman had been with P&G 33 years before retiring. Ron Miller, who was production plant manager, succeeded Bowman as plant manager in 1984. He was transferred to the company's corporate headquarters in Cincinnati during the same year, and was replaced by Robert E. Empie, who served as site leader until 1988, when he transferred to corporate headquarters. Philip Larson assumed the site leader position here in 1988, and served until 1993, when he transferred to a site leader's position at the firm's Food and Beverage Production Supply Plant in Lexington, Ky.

P&G partnership

P&G started as a partnership more than 155 years ago when William Procter and James Gamble teamed up in 1837 to sell soap, candles and lard oil from a shop in Cincinnati.

About 20 years after the partnership was founded, P&G had 80 employees, with sales reaching $1 million. The next few years were big ones as the company had contracts to supply soap and candles to Union Army divisions during the Civil War.

From there it has been growth and more growth.

A research laboratory was established in 1865, and Ivory soap was introduced in 1879.

P&G incorporated in 1890, with a stock offering to the public. Crisco, the first hydrogenated all-vegetable shortening, was introduced in 1911. By 1930, sales reached the $200 million mark and operations were started in England.

P&G initiated a daytime radio drama, "The Puddle Family," in 1932. More new products were introduced during the decades of the 1940s and '50s -- Dreft, the first synthetic household detergent; Joy, a dish-washing liquid; and Crest toothpaste. Duncan Hines baking mixes were added to the product lines and Charmin Paper Products was acquired, marking P&G's entry into the household paper products field.

By 1980, P&G had more than 42 manufacturing plants in 23 states. Employment totaled more than 59,000 and sales exceeded $10 billion.

Key acquisitions

During the 1980s the firm acquired Crush International, Ben Hill Griffin Citrus, Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Richardson-Vicks and Searle Pharmaceuticals.

P&G products are used to keep people clean, healthy and well-groomed, said Doner. "Most people are familiar with Vicks, Crest and many of our health products," he said. "They're also familiar with Ivory soap and Tide."

Also on the list of familiar food and beverage products are such items as Duncan Hines, Folgers, Jiff, and Sunny Delight.

One or two P&G products can be found at almost any time in nine of 10 homes in America. "This makes us proud," said Doner. "At the same time, it makes us very particular about the products we make and how we make them."

William Procter and James Gamble would like that.