Procter & Gamble to maneuver Gillette razor manufacturing from South Boston to Andover, discover web site redevelopment and sale

In what shall be an era-ending change for South Boston, toiletries big Procter & Gamble introduced Tuesday that it plans to maneuver razor manufacturing from its Gillette property overlooking the Fort Level Channel to its Andover campus. 

The plan is for Gillette, which has used the South Boston web site for product manufacturing for over 100 years, to maintain its headquarters on or close to its present property, P&G mentioned. The ability shall be dwelling base for 750 staff in management, analysis and growth, and engineering roles. 

However it’s unclear what precisely P&G’s present 31-acre property, dwelling to the light-up, roadside “Gillette World Shaving Headquarters” signal, will appear to be in a number of years. P&G, which acquired Gillette in 2005, indicated that it’s wanting into redevelopment and/or promoting of half or the entire web site. 

“It’s too early to say what property or how a lot land we might promote; our high precedence is making certain we now have adequate area for our present and future wants,” a P&G spokesperson mentioned. “We will even take part in a neighborhood course of which can assist inform a longer-term growth plan for the location.” 

The relocation course of will happen over a number of years as P&G invests additional in its 150-acre Andover campus, P&G mentioned. The plan is for the primary slate of staff to maneuver places in two to a few years.

All present South Boston manufacturing staff shall be provided a job in Andover, P&G mentioned. The corporate will even “present help” to staff who need assistance navigating the change.

“This new Andover Manufacturing Heart will function a crucial U.S. manufacturing hub,” the corporate wrote within the launch. “ … The improved web site can be anticipated to be a beautiful choice for different P&G companies sooner or later.”

P&G beforehand confirmed plans to double bar cleaning soap manufacturing on the Andover campus within the subsequent two years. The corporate mentioned Tuesday that it has begun assessing how else it’d develop operations there.

These modifications come on account of the completion of an evaluation of P&G’s Massachusetts amenities — a course of which started in 2019, the corporate mentioned. The Boston Globe reported that the modifications are a part of a $1 billion plan by P&G to modernize operations at each properties. 

Out of a complete of about 1,200 P&G staff at present working in South Boston, roughly 450 of them work in manufacturing, the Globe reported. P&G solely employs about 200 individuals in Andover proper now, the newspaper reported, calling its facility there “underused.” 

In keeping with Boston Enterprise Journal, P&G has been promoting off elements of its South Boston property for years.