You might think Thorne is just another health brand. But there’s more to the Thorne name than meets the eye. To me, Thorne means quality at every stage of the process.

As Vice President of Supply, I oversee the Company’s material spending and the long-range forecasts for our products that are manufactured and sold to customers. To manufacture products in-house, purchases are heavily weighted on raw materials, which make up 75 percent of annual spending. Our forecasting and planning group uses data, reviews trends, and is constantly in touch with our in-house sales and marketing teams.

My days are exciting, spending time with our customers, our sales leaders, and our suppliers, and learning of trends that are happening now or will be in the future.

Our production plan is a 12-month rolling forecast for every ingredient we use. Why 12 months? The reason is the nature of the ingredients being purchased. Many are botanical ingredients with specific growing seasons and different harvesting schedules – some of which only occur once or twice a year.

An example is broccoli extract, which is used in Thorne’s Broccoli Seed Extract and Hormone Advantage supplement products. It is important that we know far in advance exactly how much extract we need to purchase until the next harvest, which could be 12 months away. Other ingredients are minerals that are sourced all over the world or probiotics that are grown in reactors.

The production plan then drives our raw material purchases of how much we need of each one of our thousands of ingredients and at which point in time during the year the raw material must arrive. This helps our supply chain stay ahead of the curve – and ahead of our competitors in the industry.

There is a big difference between how our competitors operate and what happens within these four walls at Thorne. That’s our multiple rounds of testing.

We test every single raw material that enters our facility. The testing of a raw material ensures the purity of the ingredient and that there are no fillers or items from Thorne’s “No List” – our list of ingredients that are unacceptable in any of our final products. This round of testing also includes microbiological testing to ensure each ingredient is safe for consumption. All of this happens before an ingredient is released from quarantine for inclusion in our products.

This same testing is repeated “in-process,” when the ingredients for a formula are mixed and the product is being made, and then for a third time after the finished product is packaged. This ensures the finished product has exactly the correct amount of each ingredient to meet label claim.

There is a fourth round of testing, for stability, that confirms each product will maintain potency up to the product’s expiration date.

Beyond the four rounds of in-house testing on all products manufactured by Thorne, there are select athletic performance supplements that are “Certified for Sport” by NSF International, which is yet another round of testing – this time by an independent third party.

Product labels that carry the NSF Certified for Sport marker have been tested for more than 200 substances banned from competition by major athletic governing bodies. The Certified for Sport certification ensures that athletes can take our products without risk.

What else sets Thorne apart?

We take great pride that our final products are manufactured in the United States. Not only are we able to produce the highest quality of goods, but we also help play a role in the U.S. economy – in more ways than one.

Thorne’s catalog of health and wellness solutions comprises more than 200 unique formulas and products. About 95 percent are made on-site at Thorne’s state-of-the-art facility in Summerville, South Carolina.

The rest are made under contract by select companies in the United States and Canada. Our outside contract manufacturers are held to the same standards that our Summerville facility is held to, going through the same battery of tests that we require in-house. Many of these products again are tested independently by NSF International after being packaged by Thorne.

A big part of Thorne’s commitment to quality is consideration of where ingredients are sourced. Our research and development team is tasked with sourcing exceptional ingredients, maintaining oversight of an ingredient's origin, and providing complete supply chain transparency. Better ingredients mean better potency, absorption, and efficacy – and ultimately better health.

To source the purest, most effective ingredients, we search very far from our U.S. homebase, although our top suppliers are located in the United States.

I joined Thorne in 2018, which was an interesting time at Thorne – the Company was making a cross-country transition from its long-time home in Idaho to a brand-new, state-of-the-art manufacturing site in South Carolina.

Traveling every two weeks between the manufacturing plant in Dover, Idaho, and the new facility in Summerville, South Carolina, was what my first six months on the job looked like.

Thorne has grown a lot during my time with the Company – including the addition of a West Coast distribution center in Benicia, California, and international distribution centers in Canada and China – and that momentum is not slowing.

Future plans are extensive, so we will be prepared for our long-term growth. On deck for Thorne is a second brand-new facility being built in Summerville. This new facility will double our manufacturing capacity, setting us for our projected future stage of growth.

I feel at home with Thorne. In fact, our “Low Country” campus in Summerville is just an hour away from my hometown. I grew up in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and grew up working for my family’s manufacturing company in North Charleston that made store fixtures for department stores. I also attended the College of Charleston, where I earned my MBA in 2011. It seems fitting that I have spent most of my life working in manufacturing.

My two kids, Press and Georgie, are fifth generation Charlestonians and South Carolinians, and I hope they see how proud I am to be a part of Thorne and do what I love. I hope to instill that same sense of pride in them.

Something else I’m extremely proud of? I’m extremely proud to show off the products manufactured by my team and colleagues to my family and friends. My favorite products at Thorne are the items that I take pre- and post-workout. Creatine, Beta Alanine, and Niacel 400 are my 4:00 a.m. wakeup call before going to the gym, and I take our chocolate Whey Protein post-workout.

All three of my go-to’s are NSF Certified for Sport. Good enough for Olympians, then good enough for me!

This article is part of an ongoing series from Thorne HealthTech’s Medium blog, where we showcase the individuals behind Thorne’s approach to developing and delivering health and wellness solutions.