Enter Ourvita Group – the exciting new chapter for recently rebranded contract manufacturer, HBI Health & Beauty Innovations
Leading the health and wellness revolution, DCC Health & Beauty Solutions (DCC H&BS) has provided innovative nutrition, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products to all corners of the world for over 30 years. A trusted contract manufacturing partner for some of the world’s most influential brands, DCC H&BS represents true excellence in the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) world, widely recognized for its exceptional quality, high speed and scalability, and vertically integrated approach.
Manufacturing Today last spoke with Louise Cruickshanks, Chief Development Officer at DCC H&BS, back in 2024 to learn more about the company’s background, as well as its approach to innovation and its move into the US market. Since then, DCC H&BS has seen a complete transformation, first rebranding as HBI (Health & Beauty Innovations) and later merging with leading CDMO, Ourvita, to form Ourvita Group. Now, the company embarks on a new era, scaling its combined capabilities and expertise to greater heights as one unified Group. Louise rejoins Manufacturing Today to tell us more.
“We’ve been through a lot of change over the last 12 months, the principle being to unify the companies better and be one face to the customer,” Louise explains. “Since this change, we have been divested by DCC PLC and are now owned by London-based PE InvestIndustrial.
“The new Group brings greater innovation, operational excellence, and stability,” she says. “As a part of the Ourvita Group, we have an increased focus on being the leading partner of health, wellness, and beauty brands globally. We now have contract manufacturing centers of excellence in Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK, the US, and China; the innovation and engineering competency within the extended group is world class.”
Presently, the Ourvita Group encompasses an incredible 690 years of collective experience across 3000 employees, and has a presence in more than 120 countries worldwide. Off the back of the merger, the company’s scope of value-driven capabilities has grown exponentially across all market channels, from medical devices to OTE medicines, haircare, skincare, food supplements, and pet health – all expertly delivered in alignment with the Group’s core values of excellence, empowerment, customer centricity, and continuous improvement.
In 2025, HBI was proud to announce its acquisition of Richard Bittner, an Austrian-based CDMO, manufacturing pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and food supplements. Richard Bittner’s offerings excellently enhance those of both HBI and the wider Ourvita Group, making the acquisition another strategic move in the Group’s wider growth trajectory. Further augmenting the company’s global presence, this development falls alongside Ourvita Group’s ongoing US expansion, which has also been driven by a series of calculated acquisitions aimed at increasing the scope of solutions that it can provide for its customers.
Louise comments: “The Richard Bittner acquisition was a great strategic alignment for us. Having a facility of such high quality and capability further supports our commitment to delivering the best standard of innovation and product delivery.
“Similarly, the US is an amazing market leader when it comes to product innovation and creativity in the health and wellness space. Health and wellness is such a dynamic market, especially in nutrition, and the US very much leads the way in this area, so to have a presence there to support customers and manufacture locally for European brands entering the US market is fantastic. It has been a challenging market in a number of areas due to tariff impacts and cost of living challenges, but the breadth of capability that we now have in Ourvita Group supports greater variation of options for brands, allowing them to still deliver an innovative product in the right channels and at the right price points. The changing consumer demand brings real creativity, which I’m proud to say we excel at.”
Innovation and R&D run deep at Ourvita Group, with 15 Research and Development Excellence Centers working on over 3000 research projects and 4000 prototypes each and every year. In line with its core value of continuous improvement, the company is constantly investing in new technologies to stay ahead of the curve and provide the best, cutting-edge products for its clients. 
“We’ve invested heavily in automation on our high-volume lines and processes, which gives us the ability and agility to support customers in their growth whilst supplying the best efficiency and delivery. For instance, we’ve invested in a new multi-flavor stick line for our Minneapolis facility, which opens up great opportunities for us to reach new customers and channels within the US market,” Louise elaborates.
Amidst this growth and innovation, ESG remains at the heart of HBI and Ourvita Group, as Louise reaffirms. “Our ambition is to support our consumers with a product that has minimal environmental impact. By the end of this year, we will have a new blister packaging line that will not only offer great new capability and efficiency on our standard products, but also enable great production speeds of products packed in wholly recyclable films. This can offer a real solution to consumers that do not currently have curbside recycling options,” she reveals. “Of course, we’ve completed extensive stability studies to ensure that the quality and performance of the product remains as the consumer would expect. We’re working closely with the brands to deliver the programs needed to bring these to the market as soon as possible.”
As HBI and Ourvita Group enter into a new chapter, it’s clear that 2026 will be a year filled with further creativity, innovation, and new opportunities. Moving forward as one Ourvita Group, the company is looking towards a continuingly bright and successful future, remaining the global leader in contract manufacturing with great brand partners, engaged colleagues, and strong community reach for many more years to come.
www.ourvita.com | hbigroup.com