The Challenge
P&G’s scent beads — the little capsules that boost fragrance during a wash cycle — are one of the fastest-growing products in the company’s laundry lineup. There was just one problem: P&G didn’t make them. The beads sold under the Downy and Gain brand names were produced by outside manufacturers — a workaround for a product whose customer demand outpaced the capacity of the company’s existing plants.
P&G’s largest fabric-care site by volume is its Lima-area facilities, in operation since 1968. The site already ships Tide, Gain, and Downy products and generates more than 1,000 product innovations a year. But bringing scent bead production in-house and adding enough warehouse space to store it meant a significant expansion was needed — not just adding workload to existing operations.
The Solution
Rather than look elsewhere, P&G chose to increase capacity at home. The company invested more than $500 million in the Lima area, adding a 250,000-square-foot facility in Bath Township — the region’s first in-house production line for Downy and Gain in-wash scent beads — alongside a newly expanded, fully automated warehouse across the street. Together, the new buildings totaled more than 450,000 square feet of new manufacturing and warehousing space.
In addition to increasing shipping capacity by 40%, the expansion added new jobs on top of the roughly 750 people already working for P&G in the Lima area.
Key Factors in Choosing Ohio Included:
Location within a one-day drive of nearly 60% of the U.S. population, cutting shipping time to the retailers and e-commerce warehouses P&G already serves
The benefits of an experienced workforce already running P&G’s operations in Lima
The construction of an expanded, fully automated warehouse right across the street, timed to open alongside the new production line
Ongoing, effective coordination between Allen County officials, the Regional Growth Partnership, JobsOhio, and the Ohio Department of Development
The Results
Jobs Created: 120
Total Investment: $501 million
Total Payroll: $10 million
Economic Impact: Lima-area fabric-care employees are joined by roughly 120 more, layered onto an operation that already ships more than 1,000 product innovations a year to grocery stores, e-commerce platforms, and merchandisers nationwide. The expansion has immediately drawn statewide attention: Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel stopped in the area in August 2026 as part of a tour celebrating Ohio’s ranking as CNBC’s best state in the country for business.
Strategic Advantage: Bringing scent bead production in-house does something the outsourcing arrangement couldn’t: co-locating P&G’s fastest-growing laundry innovation with its highest-volume fabric-care operation, plus a newly automated warehouse built to move both without a bottleneck. That combination — a proven workforce, in-house product line, and expanded logistics, all in one area — is what’s grown Lima into the company’s largest fabric-care operation by volume.
Our investment in Lima enables us to better serve consumers and grow our business for decades to come. Lima has become one of the most important manufacturing sites in our fabric care network, producing innovations that millions of consumers use and trust.
“We invest where we can best innovate, manufacture, and serve consumers. Lima checks all three boxes.
— Sundar Raman, CEO, Fabric, Home and Habitat Care Sector, P&G
