Boehringer expands manufacturing in China
pharmafile | December 15, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Boehringer, China, manufacturing
Boehringer Ingelheim plans to invest €50 million in its manufacturing plant in Shanghai as part of a drive to increase its market share in China, particularly in the areas of diabetes, oncology and stroke prevention.
The production capacity of the plant in Zhangjiang High-Tech Park will be doubled as a result of the investment, with staff levels rising from 240 at present to around 400 by the end of 2013.
“Our vision is to transform our Shanghai plant into a launch site in Boehringer Ingelheim’s global operations network,” said Wolfram Carius, Boehringer’s board member for operations and human resources.
The Shanghai facility was set up in 2002 with an investment budget of around $40 million, and the latest round of investment will focus initially on a packaging centre for injectable and solid-dose medicines and automated warehousing.
A new laboratory for development activities will also be set up on the Shanghai site, which will evolve into a “modular and lean manufacturing facility”, according to Boehringer. In a second phase, due to be concluded by the end of 2014, the existing solids manufacturing facility will be revamped and upgraded, it added.
In common with many of its peers in the pharma sector, Boehringer has been making considerable investments in China in recent years, with an emphasis on its manufacturing operations.
In 2009, the company announced a €100 million manufacturing expansion project in China, including €10 million for its Shanghai Centre of Competence – inaugurated last year – that optimises active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and chemical intermediates procured in China.
The firm’s China strategy “is in tune with the economic structure transformation advocated by the government and will lead the company into a new phase of development”, it said.
Phil Taylor
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