West breaks ground for second manufacturing plant in China
Expands US firm’s presence in Asia-Pacific region
West Pharmaceutical Services, a supplier of systems for injectable drug administration, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction for a compression moulding plant in the Shanghai Qingpu Industrial Zone in China. The new plant will be adjacent to West's injection moulding facility opened in September 2009.
When completed, the plant will manufacture components used for pharmaceutical packaging, supplying customers primarily in China and the Asia-Pacific region. The 11,900m2 facility is expected to begin production in January 2013.
‘This facility is being established to provide better service to our customers in China, offering shorter lead times for delivery of our world-class pharmaceutical packaging products and creating new, flexible capacity to meet the growing needs of new customers in China and throughout the Asia-Pacific region,’ said Donald Morel, West's chairman and chief executive.
In addition to the injection moulding plant in Qingpu, West's also has a factory in Singapore and sales offices in Australia, China, India and Singapore in the Asia-pacific region.
The firm is also an equity partner of Daikyo Seiko in Japan, a manufacturer of ultra-clean pharmaceutical packaging and medical device components. The West/Daikyo relationship has been in place since 1973 and includes joint distributorship and technology licensing agreements.