International technology group Schott has unveiled plans to invest up to €300m in its pharmaceutical packaging business.
Image: Schott is expanding production facility for pharmaceutical packaging in Müllheim. Photo: courtesy of SCHOTT.
Schott intends to use the investment in the next three years to expand its core business of glass tubing, which is the starting material for pharmaceutical packaging.
The company will also use the investment for pharmaceutical packaging made of glass and polymer.
Schott will mainly focus on increasing production capacities in Europe and Asia to meet increasing demand from the customers in these regions.
Due to the rise of demand for Fiolax glass tubing, the company has announced a three-digit million amount for a new plant in Jinyun County of Zhejiang Province, which is slated to begin production in 2020, enabling to better serve Chinese customers.
Schott employs more than 900 people at various locations in China, and the new facility is expected to create additional 300 new jobs in the region.
Last October, Schott also announced an investment of €20m to build a new glass tank at its pharmaceutical glass plant in Jambusar of Gujarat in India, allowing to expand the production capacity of Fiolax. The melting tank is expected to be operational in early 2020.
Schott is also expanding production capacity at its sites in St. Gallen of Switzerland and Müllheim of Germany to meet the demand for prefillable polymer syringes.
Schott Toppac polymer syringes, which are lightweight and break-resistant, are produced by using cyclo-olefin copolymer (COC).
The transparent polymer is specifically used for packaging and storing of medications used in cancer therapy, emergency medication, intensive care or cosmetic applications.
The new production lines for polymer syringes were built and started operations at St. Gallen facility in the middle of 2018.
Schott has also announced a three-digit million euro amount for a new production facility for prefillable polymer syringes in Müllheim.
Schott management board chairman Dr Frank Heinricht said: “Today, we produce pharmaceutical glass tubing that is converted into approximately 25 billion pharmaceutical packages, such as vials, syringes, ampoules, or cartridges, produced by Schott and other suppliers around the world.”