Procter & Gamble, the personal-care products manufacturer, has announced that its new 13,100-sqm factory in Poland, the company’s largest investment in the country to date, will most probably begin regular production in Q2 2009. Located in Aleksandrów Łódzki, near Łódź, the facility has already begun trial runs and its machinery is now being tested.

“The trial product has been forwarded to our research center in England and is now being tested. The preliminary assessment appears to be positive, so it is likely that we will start regular production in the second quarter of 2009,” said Katarzyna Wojciechowska, director of the factory. She added that the company was in the process of recruiting technicians for the facility and that it had already hired three-quarters of its total workforce.

Construction on the factory took 12 months and cost $50 (zł.173) million. GSE Polska, the engineering and construction company, acted as the general contractor for the project.

The new facility, which according to the company will feature a number of ecological and energy-saving solutions, will predominantly serve Western, Eastern European, Middle Eastern and African markets. The factory’s official opening is scheduled for Q4.