There is a plant in Fort Mill that makes more over-the-counter drugs and vitamins than you can imagine. The plant alone pumps out more that 550 million pills, tablets, and capsules each month. If you laid these end-to-end, the line would span from Fort Mill across the entire United States.

Leiner Health Products in Fort Mill is its name, and it fills about 9 million bottles per month--all destined to relieve pain, settle unsettled stomachs, stomp on allergies, or infuse the body with vitamins.

Located in the Lakemont Business Park near Carowinds, Leiner's facility dominates the end of Crestmont Drive. As Kent Staude, the director of customer services, says, "We are the large white building you see at the bottom of the hill."

Leiner Health Products is privately owned, and with about 3,500 products, it is the second largest vitamin and drug supplier in the United States and the largest in Canada. It was founded in 1978 by David Brubaker. The headquarters are located in Carson, Calif., and they have additional plants in Wilson, N.C., and Winnipeg, Canada.

The Fort Mill facility was opened about five years ago. Leiner was drawn to the Fort Mill area because of the skilled workforce, good labor conditions, excellent transportation access, and a great economic incentives deal from South Carolina.

The big white building Staude described has 650,000 square feet under its roof. Leiner currently employs about 600 people and is expanding--making it one of the largest employers in York County. Leiner employs about 1,700 people nationally, 2,000 around the world.

In years gone by, druggists made pills by hand. At Leiner, machines spit out pills in a continuous, colorful waterfall, flowing into large sacks for hauling to the next production stage. A full sack can easily weigh from 300 to 500 pounds and holds the equivalent of a lifetime supply of vitamins tablets for the average person, or enough headache remedies to soothe everyone in York County many times over.

The process of making a pill or tablet is not very complicated, though Leiner maintains strict control throughout the process. The work starts when the raw materials are received and tested for quality.

The materials are weighed and blended according to the particular recipe for the drug or vitamin being produced. The blended material is then compressed into tablets.

The Fort Mill facility has several blending machines--one of which is the largest in the world. This blender can mix enough ingredients for up to 30 million tablets per run.

Tablets are coated after they are formed, then checked again for quality. When the quality is assured, the tablets are ready for bottling. Filled bottles are also checked to make certain that each has the correct quantity of pills.

The bottled tablets are then packaged and placed in cases for shipment to the distribution centers, the final step before hitting the shelves for sale to consumers.

Leiner does not sell directly to the public. They only manufacture pills for retail outlets and companies selling mail order or over the Internet.

But you can find what they make in nearly every major retail store, television shopping channel, grocery store, discount store and drug store, under the brand name of that store. For example, you might find products that compare to name-brand headache and pain relievers, stomach relief tablets, allergy medications or vitamins. These are often referred to as the "house" or "store" brand.

Quality is a focus for Leiner. They have extensive laboratory and testing facilities at the Fort Mill location. And their products are checked by third-party companies for quality, to ensure that the drug or vitamin compares favorably with its name-brand equivalent.

Leiner also conforms to the Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP) standards.

And when you see USP on a bottle label, it means that the product conforms to U.S. Pharmacopeia standards. Leiner strives to meet these standards with every pill they make.

If you buy house-brand medications and vitamins, there is a good chance that the pill was popped out of a machine in the large white building in Fort Mill. Leiner Health Products is an excellent example of how something made in our area has a national, and even global, reach.

Bill Henson is a technical writer and marketing copywriter living in Rock Hill. You can reach him by e-mail at writer@cetlink.net.