BD chooses Spain as home for new high-tech manufacturing facility

Zaragoza plant will produce devices such as prefillable syringes to deliver vaccines and other biologics

The company has said it plans to begin constructing the €165 million ($200 million USD) high-tech manufacturing plant in late 2021. It will produce devices such as prefillable syringes to deliver vaccines and other biologics and will become BD's fourth manufacturing plant in Spain.

The site will have an initial workforce of 150 people and encompass an area of ​​8,000 m2 (86,000 sq. ft). By 2030 it is expected to employ up to 600 people with an area of ​​30,000 m2 (323,000 sq. feet).

The company said its new facility will meet high sustainability and eco-efficiency standards, and it will be a fully digital site, incorporating the latest in intelligent and autonomous technologies, also knowns as Industry 4.0 solutions.

Eric Borin, worldwide president of BD Pharmaceutical Systems, said the plant will focus on producing "drug delivery devices primarily for pharmaceutical companies that supply the European market with drugs in prefillable syringes such as vaccines and other biologic drugs".

He added that the plant will also provide additional capacity for vaccination campaigns similar to the current one being rolled out in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last December, BD announced its plan to invest $1.2 billion USD over 4 years to expand and upgrade its manufacturing capacity and technology for prefillable syringes and advanced drug delivery systems. Part of this investment will fund the new Zaragoza site.

The company's other three Spanish sites - located in San Agustín de Guadalix, Fraga and Almaraz - produce a total 10 billion devices each year. The Fraga site is a major producer of COVID-19 vaccination devices and is expected to be synergistic with the new site.