West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. has opened a new Waterford, Ireland facility, a global center for West’s advanced manufacturing network, and has launched a new product line—Westar Select.
The new, 20,500-square-meter facility, situated on a 44-acre campus, will produce West’s proprietary elastomeric laminate sheeting, which is used to package insulin for use in pen injectors. Additionally, it will offer high-value finishing for components, including stoppers and plungers, produced at other West facilities around the world.
The services, designed to mitigate the risk of potential contamination and compatibility issues with packaging components, include pharmaceutical washing (Westar RS components), Envision verification, steam sterilization (Westar RU components), and flexible packaging offerings.
The Waterford site also will be among the first in West’s global manufacturing network to produce Westar Select, the latest in West’s Westar offering. In addition to a tighter particulate specification, Westar Select will be made available through an optimized global manufacturing network with multi-site production capabilities to ensure a continuous supply chain, while helping to reduce regulatory complexity.
West’s Waterford facility currently employs approximately 100 people in both local and global functions, with plans for additional hiring. Commercial production in Waterford is expected this year.
West also has a manufacturing and development center in Dublin that provides design, development, and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical and medical technology customers. The Dublin site recently completed an expansion to accommodate new customer programs and employs approximately 600 people.
(Source: West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.)
