Gillette's razor blade production is moving to Andover, with a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing hub under construction at the company's 150-acre campus on Burtt Road since April 2025.
The consolidation relocates manufacturing from Gillette's longtime South Boston facility as parent company Procter & Gamble builds a new $1 billion headquarters on a smaller 2.4-acre site along Fort Point Channel in Boston. P&G purchased that parcel at 232 A Street for $99.3 million, according to Caught in Southie, which reported the deal Aug. 20 citing Banker & Tradesman records.
Gillette's existing 31-acre South Boston campus is slated for redevelopment into a mixed-use project now under Boston city review, Patch reported Aug. 21. The new Boston facility will house a 335,000-square-foot laboratory, research building and innovation center, Engineering News-Record reported in March.
For Andover, the shift means the town's largest industrial employer is doubling down on local manufacturing rather than pulling back. The 30 Burtt Road campus already houses Gillette operations, and the new hub expands that footprint significantly.
Permits and approvals on track
Andover's Conservation Commission approved a notice of intent with an order of conditions for the expansion in October 2024. Construction started in December 2024, and as of Jan. 20, Greg Hochmuth of Epsilon Associates, the project's environmental monitoring contractor, told the commission that the build was on schedule, according to the Andover Townsman.
The vote was unanimous.
On March 31, the Planning Board voted 4-0 to approve a minor modification to Gillette's special permit, allowing the company to reconfigure the "North Gate" entrance off Burtt Road. The changes improve security, traffic circulation and stormwater management at the primary employee entrance, according to Planning Board minutes.
Most recently, the Select Board approved a license for Gillette to store flammables and combustibles at the site during its July 13 meeting, a routine step for an active manufacturing facility.
Local support, but questions remain
Town Manager Andrew Flanagan expressed support for the project early on. "Thrilled that @Gillette will be expanding in @AndoverMaGov and helping us grow our local economy. Full steam ahead!" he wrote on X in October 2023, when the expansion was first announced.
Neither P&G nor town officials have disclosed how many jobs the Andover manufacturing hub will support or when construction will be complete. The project was described as "on schedule" in January, but no target completion date has been made public.
The expansion was among the "big projects" keeping commercial construction investment strong in Andover through early 2026, according to a Patch report from Aug. 1. Residents can track project updates through Planning Board and Conservation Commission agendas on the town's website.
