MOSCOW (MRC) -- Leading European pharma group Boehringer Ingelheim recently inaugurated an advanced EUR120m production plant for its ‘Respimat’ inhalation device in northern Spain, as per Plasticsnewseurope.
The innovative 17,000m2 centre at Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona includes production, warehousing and technical areas and offices. It will manufacture and package 25 million of the plastics-based devices per year with a workforce of up to 200.
‘Respimat’ propellant-free soft vapour inhalers deliver measured doses of medication to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Output from the Catalan unit will meet the demand for the Boehringer products in worldwide markets.
Plant production represents more than half the annual sales of ‘Respimat’ around the globe being distributed to more than 100 countries including all of Europe, Japan, The US, Brazil and Canada.
Work on the site began just two years ago when the plant foundation stone was formally laid in Barcelona in 2017 and developed rapidly to become what Boehringer Ingelheim described as a “fast track project”.
An inauguration ceremony of the new operation was attended by national, regional and national officials along with group executives. They included Spain’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Maria Reyes Maroto, Catalan Government president Quim Torra i Pla and Sant Cugat del Valles mayor Carmela Fortuny i Camarena.
"The inauguration of this new plant is recognition of the excellence and professionalism of hundreds of workers who .... have positioned the Boehringer Ingelheim facilities in Sant Cugat as one of the group’s innovation hubs in Europe...” commented Peter Ploeger, general drector of Boehringer Ingelheim Spain.
The ‘Respimat’ facility includes production equipment incorporating technologies of Industry 4.0 such as digitalisation, systems integration, robotics and a high degree of automation.
Last year, the group, based in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany, invested around EUR86.1m in research and development in Spain where it also operates several pharmaceuticals manufacturing plants. On a global level, Boehringer Ingelheim group sank more than EUR3.2bn in R&D.
Respimat inhalers are also manufactured by a group subsidiary at a plant in Dortmund in western Germany. Boehringer’s new Spanish facility moulds the device components in sterile conditions in the production hall and includes several laboratories and a waste management unit.
MRC