Reprieve for GSK’s Sligo plant
pharmafile | October 16, 2012 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | GSK, Ireland, Sligo, cuts
GlaxoSmithKline has reversed its earlier plan to close a manufacturing plant in Sligo, Ireland, and says it now intends to upgrade the facility.
The decision saves around 120 jobs at the site, which is run by GSK’s consumer healthcare subsidiary Stiefel. The firm says it will now invest around €10 million to position the site as a manufacturing hub for skincare products and liquid bottling operations.
The plant will now retain 120 of the 180 workers originally employed there, with the 60 job cuts carried out over the next two years. However, another 50 staff are due to be hired in 2014, according to the Irish Development Agency (IDA), suggesting that the net impact on employment at the plant will be minimal.
The Sligo plant’s site director, Pat McLoughlin, said that the workforce has proved itself with an increase in productivity of 40% over the last three years, and this was a “key factor in the decision to choose Sligo for future development”.
GSK bought Stiefel in 2009 for $3.6 billion, taking over what was then the world’s largest independent dermatology company specialising in prescription and over-the-counter skin care products, including acne washes and other skin treatments.
An inevitable round of cost-cutting followed as GSK rationalised its manufacturing network in the wake of the merger, but Stiefel’s plants seem to have been resistant to closure. In 2010, GSK scrapped plans to close a US facility operated by Stiefel at Oak Hill in New York after lobbying by state and local officials, once again deciding instead to invest and upgrade the plant.
David Pulman, president of global manufacturing and supply at GSK, said that the decision was taken because “we need an agile and flexible supply network – both internally and externally – to support growth and the rapid development of new product innovation.
“Looking to the future, Sligo will play an important role in our Stiefel consumer business”, he added.
Phil Taylor
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