The seventh plant of the Gerresheimer group for pharmaceutical glass packaging in China
The Gerresheimer group opened a new plant for pharmaceutical glass packaging in China. The high-tech production facility constructed in Danyang (Jiangsu Province) covers 16,000 square metres. It serves the pharma and life science industry on both local and international levels. Dr. Axel Herberg, CEO, Gerresheimer, describes the investment as a very important strategic step for further business expansion in Asia. In China, the company now operates seven production plants for highly specific glass and plastic products.
The new facility belongs to Gerresheimer Shuangfeng, a Chinese subsidiary of the group, which was acquired in 2006 and now has production plants in three locations with a total of more than 150 production lines. With investment in technologies and range of vials, ampoules and cartridges, it has in just a few years developed into one of the market leaders in China, said Dr. Max Raster, member of the Management Board of Gerresheimer at the opening ceremony on May 29, 2009.
“Top ‘quality produced in China’ is the corporate philosophy here which binds us directly to the ambitious objectives for development of the local economy and the Jiangsu region,” Raster said. The state-of-the-art plant in the up-and-coming city with 800,000 inhabitants just 250 kilometres west of Shanghai is of strategic importance for the globally active Gerresheimer group. A key area of focus for it is the rapidly growing Asian pharma market with its constantly rising quality demands in terms of packaging and drug delivery. In the unanimous assessment of experts, China is already the fifth largest pharma market in the world.
In parallel with its local status as a technology advanced pharma glass plant the Danyang facility offers ideal conditions and flexible expansion possibilities to enable it to supply customers with quality specialist products in neighbouring Asian countries and other market regions as well. “We work at the highest level of internationally recognized quality standards,” Raster stresses. The technical production processes are for example monitored by in-line camera systems – a product control process which is by no means universal industry practice in China or elsewhere. The clean-room concept also reflects the latest development status.
In Danyang, which has been regarded as an attractive industrial location for foreign investors in particular, Gerresheimer Shuangfeng also has a second production plant exclusively for pharmaceutical vials. In addition, the company manufactures vials and ampoules in Zhenjiang, also in the Province of Jiangsu. Four other plants of the Gerresheimer Group also manufacture in the country. In total, Gerresheimer employs around 1,500 people in China.
