Eli Lilly to invest $3B in Wisconsin manufacturing plant expansion

Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) announced that it plans to invest $3 billion in the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Kenosha County, Wisconsin.

In April, Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly acquired the plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, from sterile manufacturer Nexus. The company expects its investment to extend its global parenteral (injectable) product manufacturing network. It aims to help meet the growing demand for diabetes, obesity and future pipeline medicines across therapeutic areas.

With this investment, Eli Lilly expects to add 750 highly skilled jobs to the current workforce, which sits over 100 people, at the facility. The company expects to start construction on the expansion in 2025. The acquisition, expansion and additional purchases of land and the adjacent warehouse brings the company’s total planned investment in Wisconsin to $4 billion.

The company plans to use advanced automation, including guided vehicles, robotics and production equipment to accelerate medicine production. New highly skilled jobs at the site include operators, technicians, engineers and scientists. Eli Lilly also expects more than 2,000 construction jobs as a result of the expansion.

“Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines right here in the Midwest,” said Edgardo Hernandez, EVP and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations. “We look forward to bringing high-wage, advanced manufacturing, engineering and science jobs to people in Wisconsin, a state that is becoming a critical geography in our global manufacturing operations.”