Big changes are on the horizon for the contract manufacturing sector of West Pharmaceutical Services.
On Tuesday, November 29, West Pharmaceutical Services announced a 60,000-square-foot expansion of its contract manufacturing facility in Dublin, Ireland. In addition, the contract manufacturing branch of West, known as The Tech Group, will now be using the West branding.
“Our experience in contract manufacturing goes back 50 years, when the Tech Group was founded. In 2005, West acquired the Tech Group, and for the past 11 years, it’s been a part of our business,” Karen Flynn, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, West Pharmaceutical Services, said in an exclusive statement to Pharmaceutical Processing.
“As part of the announcement about the completion of a 60,000 square foot expansion in our Dublin facility, West also announced that its contract manufacturing business will now align with the West brand and do business as ‘West.’ This transition reflects the significance of contract manufacturing in West’s long-term strategy as a leader in integrated packaging and delivery for injectable medicines,” Flynn added.
The facility expansion results from an increased customer demand for medical device manufacturing, especially in the area of diabetes—deepening West’s roots in Ireland and in the integrated packaging and delivery for injectable medicines markets.
“The additional capacity in Dublin will make it possible to better service the company’s growing healthcare and medical device contract manufacturing business, which is focused on supplying high-quality molding and assembly solutions for the production of medical devices such as auto-injectors and continuous glucose monitoring systems,” according to the press release.
The company predicts that the expansion will result in an additional 100 jobs.
But Dublin isn’t the only location in Ireland that West has expansion plans for. The company will also be constructing a facility for its proprietary elastomeric sheeting and injectable component product lines in Waterford, with full commercial operations expected to begin in 2018.
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