Thursday, June 08, 2000
New P&G facility praised
By Randy Tucker
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Gov. Bob Taft praised Procter & Gamble's new Beckett Ridge Technical Center on Tuesday as an engineering and technological marvel that will be “vital to Ohio's prosperity in the 21st century.”
The governor delivered his remarks during dedication ceremonies at the Union Centre Boulevard campus in West Chester, where state and local officials, media members and P&G employees gathered to find out more about the center and tour the operation.
The facility consists of two buildings: a 124,000-square-foot Corporate Prototyping and Package Development building and a 300,000-square-foot Corporate Engineering Technologies Lab, where the dedication ceremonies took place.
Together, the buildings house more than 400 workers who support research and development efforts across all of the company's worldwide business sectors.
During the dedication, Mr. Taft said Ohio needs the types of high-tech jobs and technical knowledge that the new center will bring to the state, if it wants to compete in an increasingly technology driven economy.
“This project is another giant step forward toward realizing the goals that I set forth ... last year when I said that Ohio must be a leader on the new frontier of science and information and technology,” Mr. Taft said.
For P&G, the new center, which opened late last year, represents the next step in meeting its goals of faster product development, innovation and manufacturing, said Gordon Brunner, the company's chief technology officer.
Mr. Brunner, who introduced Mr. Taft after speaking to the audience himself, said that by combining those functions under one roof, P&G has greatly increased the speed with which it can convert new ideas into products that can be tested.
That helps the company get new products to market faster, which is the key to P&G's future growth under its year-old restructuring, dubbed Organization 2005.
“What these facilities allow us to do is provide a critical mass of leading-edge technology, from fast prototype devices to advanced packaging to new laminates, whatever the situation might call for,” Mr. Brunner said. And “by putting these capabilities together, we can really do these things much more efficiently.”
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