and the NOW products were obviously fake. Labels were poor quality, lids were white screw-on, label font size was too small, bottle counts were different and some labels had spelling errors. Some capsule products actually contained empty white capsules with no powder inside at all! Once again, we engaged with both Amazon and Homeland Security to shut this seller down and try to prevent any inventory from being sold elsewhere. Finally, in November 2023 we found a more sinister counterfeit on the Russian website www.wildberries.ru. One of our international partners found NOW products sold on that site, although NOW did not sell to that site or even know about this site. The pricing was too low and that’s what caught the attention of our customer. We received samples of what was being sold as NOW vitamins and we investigated the labels, bottles, and capsules inside the bottles. These fakes were virtually impossible for NOW experts to tell the difference. Labels were 100% accurate, with zero errors. The lids were purple, though very slightly different and made by a different supplier. Even the color of the capsules and softgels were close to being authentic. The only clear fake component was the lot numbers did not match with NOW’s specific lot numbers. We tested each of the products received and the products did contain some potency of the right product, but all were well below labeled potency. What a crime! What a problem! How unfair! NOW is looking into various ways to address counterfeits and it seems like a full-time job for the distant future. “One person pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.” (Proverbs 13:7) New Production FacilitY With sales booming from extra Covid demand, NOW determined to expand our production facilities. We bought our neighbor’s building at 391 Glen Ellyn Road in Bloomingdale, IL and made preparations to rebuild that site into a pharmaceutical-level manufacturing plant. Designs started in late 2020 and the building had a soft opening in late 2022. Our plan was to buy all new very high-speed equipment, to increase automation and require fewer workers. Since we were struggling, and failing, to hire enough workers, NOW went all-in on the best equipment for making capsules, tablets and powder blends. The new building is smaller than our main plant, at 90,000 sq. ft., but automation is helping production increase supplies significantly. By October 2023, total NOW production was pumping out four bottles per second 24/7/365. That equals about seven Billion total capsules, tablets and softgels per year! Our new building is also LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certified by the US Green Building Council. This is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and a recognition of excellence. The new facility is a real showpiece for vitamin automation and cleanliness. We’re fortunate to be able to invest in such a high- tech building, knowing that we need quality equipment to match our quality systems, quality people and quality ingredients. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-3) 140 BEATING THE ODDS
