MilliporeSigma Plans to Invest $49 Million in Manufacturing and Distribution in Asia
MilliporeSigma, the life-sciences business of Merck KGaA, plans to invest EUR 40 million ($49 million) over two years to build a manufacturing and distribution presence in Asia with investments in South Korea, India, and China.
In South Korea, the company is investing in a new integrated cell-culture facility in the Songdo district of Incheon on a 109,000-square-foot site. The investment will include infrastructure to facilitate the supply of its products and cell-culture media manufacturing capabilities. In November 2016, MilliporeSigma signed a memorandum of understanding with the Incheon Free Economic Zone to support the building of a bio cluster in Songdo, which led to the development of the company’s cell-culture facility in Songdo. Construction is expected to begin in May 2018 and to be completed by mid-2019. This investment follows the company’s launch of its M Lab Collaboration Center at the Techno Park IT Center in Songdo in October 2016.
In India, the company is planning to invest EUR 16.6 million ($20.4 million) to build a new manufacturing and distribution center in Mumbai on a 129,000-square-foot site. The new center, located in the Patalganga industrial area, is expected to be completed in 2019. The new facility will house a solids down-filling operation. The addition of this facility to the existing MilliporeSigma facility in Jigani, Bengaluru, India is designed to strengthen the company’s manufacturing and supply-chain infrastructure in the country.
In China, the company is investing in single-use manufacturing at a site for its Mobius products in Wuxi, China. The site is expected to be completed in the second half of 2018. This investment follows MilliporeSigma’s EUR 80-million ($98 million) life-science investment in Nantong, China in November 2016.
Source: MilliporeSigma (South Korea expansion), (India expansion), (China expansion)