Recent Events:
On April 1, 2005, Weider Nutrition International, Inc. consummated the sale of certain assets of its Active Nutrition Unit relating to its Weider® branded business domestically and internationally to Weider Global Nutrition, LLC. As a consequence, Weider Nutrition International, Inc. has changed its company name to Schiff Nutrition International, Inc.
Profile:
Schiff Nutrition International develops, manufactures, markets, distributes and sells vitamins, nutritional supplements and sports nutrition products. Schiff Nutrition's core brands include Schiff®, Tiger's Milk®, and Fi-bar.
History:
Joe Weider is credited as the founder of the sports nutrition industry in 1940. The company has a rich history as a leader in the nutritional supplements industry. Weider Nutrition, now Schiff Nutrition, began as the nutritional products division of Weider Health and Fitness. In 1989, Weider Health and Fitness established its three principal business divisions (Sporting Goods, Nutrition and Publications) as independent subsidiaries. The 418,000 square foot Salt Lake City manufacturing facility, opened in 1997, provides the Company with the capacity to quadruple its current annualized sales. In June 1999, Bruce Wood joined the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Wood brings over 25 years of food industry experience, primarily with divisions of Nabisco, Inc.
Focus:
The key to Schiff's long-term growth is the success of its core brands. Schiff is now focusing on supporting and building its strongest brands and developing and marketing high quality, innovative new products that meet consumer needs and demands. As part of its brand building and product development efforts, Schiff has reduced its domestic stock keeping units (SKUs) by over two-thirds to focus on its most promising products. Schiff has also added leadership to its sales, marketing and research and development teams, creating a deeper infrastructure to support its brand building efforts.
Products:
Anticipating and meeting customer needs is critical. Schiff has a track record of developing first-to-market products. To continue to seize these opportunities, the R&D and marketing teams are working closely together to develop and carefully test highly-targeted products. Each new product has anticipated measurable return on investment goals.
Distribution:
Growth relies upon sales and sales upon quality product and superior distribution. Schiff has always perceived its customer relationships as huge resources and growth contributors. Therefore, Schiff modeled its successful marketing programs to enhance communications and responsiveness to relationships with greater potential.
Bottom Line:
Schiff has implemented competitive benchmarking to enhance performance. Schiff's first action was to consolidate capsule and tablet manufacturing at the new Salt Lake City facility to save costs using modern systems, equipment and higher capacity. Next the financial teams have initiated upgraded financial planning and analysis programs.