Helvoet Pharma Invests In New Production Unit
In order to meet the increasingly high demands set by the pharmaceutical industry, Helvoet Pharma has started building a completely new production unit in Alken. The new plant, covering a surface area of 6,000m², will focus on production of a new line of high-quality rubber packaging components — an important growth segment in the market. An investment of 22 million Euro is involved.
Over the last three years, there has been a distinct increased demand for high-quality rubber components in the pharmaceutical packaging market. This prompted the need not only for new and innovative product lines, but also for modified high-tech production environments that have to meet the increasingly strict standards, set by the pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, large companies today want suppliers to uphold the same strict standards in their manufacturing processes as applied in the pharmaceutical sector itself.
Building a brand new production unit is packaging manufacturer Helvoet Pharma's response to these strict quality demands. Construction is due to start in July and the new plant should be operational by January 2009.
Clean rooms
The new production line — whose name is being kept a secret for the time being — will comprise high-quality rubber components for pharmaceutical packaging and medical systems. The products will include coated products (Omniflex) as well as products for the biopharmaceutical industry. These products are extremely pure so that they guarantee optimal compatibility with the products they enclose. Rubber parts for pre-filled syringes — an important growth segment — will also be produced.
In creating this additional production unit Helvoet Pharma is setting a new trend within the world of pharmaceutical packaging for injectable medicines. The plant will be equipped with the latest technology and focus will be laid on production in clean rooms, with particular emphasis on production flow and validation processes.
About Helvoet Pharma
Helvoet Pharma was founded in 1970 in Alken, and has since developed into a worldwide manufacturer of rubber and aluminium packaging components for the pharmaceutical industry (injectable medicine sector). Its client list includes almost all the large pharmaceutical companies worldwide from Pfizer and GSK to AstraZeneca and Janssen Pharmaceutica as well as Schering-Plough and many others.
Helvoet Pharma employs around 1,200 people and has production units in Belgium (Alken), the U.S., Italy (two factories) and Germany. The head office in Alken — which houses part of the production facilities as well as management and the central R&D department — employs around 450 people. Since its creation, Helvoet Pharma has experienced uninterrupted growth in turnover; in 2006 this amounted to around 155 million Euro.
Helvoet Pharma is one of five divisions of the Swiss listed company Daetwyler Holding Inc. that also operates, via other industrial companies, in the automotive and construction sector among others. The group employs 4,500 people worldwide and has an annual turnover of 800 million Euro.
Source: Helvoet Pharma