Procter & Gamble Rakona
Procter&Gamble started to operate on the former Czechoslovakian market already in 1990. In September of the following year then bought the Rakona plant located in Rakovnik for 21 million dollars from the State Property Fund. This was the beginning of the successful operation of Procter&Gamble in Central and Eastern Europe.
The foundations of the Rakona plant were laid in 1875, when Mr. Frantisek Otta started to make soap in the house on Rakovnik‘s square. The enterprise was successful, so in 1900 the production moved to a new building, which stood in a place of nowadays Rakona. As the time went, the soap production was augmented by production of glycerin and soda; in 1934 started the production of margarine. The plant was nationalized in 1946 and the name changed to Rakona. Two milestones in the plant’s history were the start of laundry detergent production in 1965 followed by start of liquid detergent production in 1978. And it was the laundry and liquid detergents that became the key production program after the arrival of the new owner, Procter&Gamble.
Today’s production program of Rakona covers several categories: laundry detergents, dish care products, household cleaners, fabric conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants. Laundry detergents are mainly represented by Ariel, Tide, Bonux, Alfa and Vizir, dish care products by Jar and Fairy, household cleaners by Mr. Proper, fabric conditioners by Lenor; deodorants and antiperspirants are produced since 2004, mainly under the well-known brands Old Spice and Secret.
Rakona exports more than 85 % of the production to thirty countries not only in Central and Eastern Europe, but also to Germany, Italy and other western countries; less volume is exported to the Middle East. Thus, Rakona belongs to the most important exporters in the country. Procter&Gamble has invested more than 150 million dollars into modernization of the plant and into increase of capacity and Rakona has become one of the biggest Procter&Gamble plants in Europe. Investments into safety, hygiene and protection of the environment alone exceeded 10 million dollars. It is one of the biggest employers in Rakovnik region.
One of the fundamental principles of Procter & Gamble is to contribute to the development of the society in the place of its operations. The company has supported the city of Rakovnik and number of regional non-profit organizations working in the field of education, health, environment and culture by more than three million dollars.
Engineering center in Rakona – new opportunity for graduates of technical universities
Besides being one of the most important production plants of Procter&Gamble in Central and Eastern Europe, Rakona will also host a new engineering center, which starts its operation next year.
This center will provide technical support not only to Rakona, but also to other plants in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. In the first phase, we expect to build a team of 10-15 engineers from the region. This team of experts will prepare and execute engineering projects in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey or Romania. The goal is to understand how new technologies can better support needs of our customers and put them into practice. The engineers from the newly opened center will also decide about investments within the region. The engineering center will cover especially development of production technologies, modeling and simulation of processes, control and information systems, development and provision of safety and hygiene aspects during project implementation, management of initiatives and cost control of investments.
