Marrone Bio Innovations Begins Production at Michigan Plant

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Marrone Bio Innovations Inc., a worldwide provider of bio-based pest management and plant health products, has begun its first production of the company’s top bio-insecticide at its recently renovated Bangor plant in southwest Michigan.

“Producing this first batch of Grandevo is an important milestone in meeting the margin objectives we have set for 2014,” says Hector Absi, senior vice president of commercial operations of the Davis, Calif.-based company. “As we expect to continue delivering double digit sales growth of our existing products and plan for new product introductions, this new manufacturing capability will allow faster scale up, (and) make us much more responsive to surges in market demand and more effective in managing our production costs.”

Absi says revitalization and expansion of the facility, acquired in July 2012, will be completed in multiple phases with an anticipated total capital expenditure of $32 million. Installation of the first of three fermentation tanks, and the construction of a dedicated building to house them, marks the completion of first phase of the project.

Future phases will include production of the company’s biofungicide, as well as increasing the capacity of the utilities and installing larger fermenters that will accommodate production of multiple products at higher volumes.