Huge boxes of creatine line the warehouse at Montana Global Health. It’s a snapshot of what’s popular in the supplement industry, but also an indicator of a growing client base for longtime wellness manufacturer Montana Global Health.  

“That’s all for one customer,” said President Terri Chichester, motioning to the creatine.  

Walking through the Evergreen facility, Chichester explained the process of making and packaging the dietary supplements produced by the contract manufacturer. The company is planning to soon move into a 46,000-square-foot facility in Columbia Falls.  

It all begins when a client comes forward with an idea for a product. The company sources all of the raw materials, which are tested, then measured and mixed. From there, the product starts to take shape — powders are put into capsules, and drinks are bottled.  

“This is a juice drink we're doing now. It will be sent to Dubai. They're weighing it out, measuring it and then it needs to go into a cold bath,” Chichester said.  

Montana Global Health is now truly global — with a growing number of clients located domestically and worldwide. Chichester started with the original owners of the company in 2000 and bought the business in 2019.  

A lot has changed in the years since, owing in part to incorporating more technology.  

“Automation is really important. I work alongside the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center through Montana State University. I had the U.S. Small Business Administration here yesterday, and I've been speaking to the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce on automation because of the things that I've done to enhance our processes,” Chichester said.  

Wellness products have been rising in popularity, with more consumer demand and a mainstream focus on health following the pandemic, according to the Nutrition Business Journal. The industry publication points to a greater interest in supplements in recent years, which had overall sales of $74.15 million in 2025.  

Chichester said there are only two other facilities in Montana that manufacture wellness products on a similar scale to Montana Global Health. She’s met some clients at trade shows and industry events, but most of them get connected through word of mouth. Even though they’ve made investments to scale up production in recent years, the business continues to work with small companies that other manufacturers can’t accommodate.  

“We have low minimums, which a lot of large companies don't have, and so we'll work with the startup companies. We’ll hold their hands and teach them the regulations and help them navigate all the federal requirements,” she said.

The facility is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, adhering to federal laws that apply to dietary supplement manufacturers. Under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a firm is responsible for ensuring that the dietary supplements it manufactures or distributes are not adulterated, misbranded, or otherwise in violation of federal law, according to the federal agency.  

“It's food safety, hazardous analysis and critical control points. The food safety is really important because we are considered more in the classification of food,” Chichester said.  

Montana Global Health is also NSF Good Manufacturing Practices Certified, paying a third-party company to do an audit once a year. NSF observes the standard operating procedures, batch records and testing methods to ensure the company is adhering to FDA regulations.  

“Our clients really like that because they know that their products are being made in a quality manufacturing facility. Amazon has recently made it mandatory that any supplements that are sold on their website need to be manufactured in a facility that has third-party certification,” she said.  

As the company has grown, Chichester said it has invested in new equipment to automate some processes or accommodate new products. Montana Emu Ranch has been a longtime client, and when they wanted to start selling emu oil in capsules several years ago, they asked Montana Global Health to help make that a reality.  

“One of the pieces of equipment that I purchased was specifically for them ... In order for them to put the oil in soft gels that have the hard coating on them, the minimums were so high, so [Don Collins] helped us buy the piece of equipment, then I paid him back for it, so we could do his stuff,” Chichester said.  

There are also a whole host of packaging machines, including an automated box erector called “Chuck Norris” that can pull 18 boxes a minute. Some of those recommendations to update packaging came from the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, which sent an automation engineer to observe the facility.  

Chichester said he suggested they could double or triple their output if they automated the packaging line. After the upgrades, the facility went from being able to package 3,500 bottles a day to 10,000.    

Automation doesn’t necessarily mean less staff, as the company still needs to hire around 15 to 20 people once the expanded facility is complete. 

“When I walk in the back and I see something that I think I would hate to stand there and do that all day, then I try and figure out a way to automate it. There's an automation loan program through the U.S. Department of Commerce and we've taken advantage of that before, and so I'm looking to add more equipment with that as well,” Chichester said.  

The new facility in Columbia Falls will add 6,000 square feet to the operation. It will have a much larger warehouse and is designed with lean manufacturing in mind, which aims to minimize the steps between processes to improve efficiency. 

Chichester said the hope is to move into the new facility by next summer.  

To learn more about Montana Global Health, visit montanaglobalhealth.com. 

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4440 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support. 

    Capsules are dedusted and polished as they are prepared at Montana Global Health on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Employees bottle a liquid vitamin drink product for a company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at Montana Global Health on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    An employee adds supplement powders to an industrial mixer at Montana Global Health on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider   

    Employees ready a peptide product for shipping at Montana Global Health on Thursday, Sept. 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider