Sartorius group invests $100 million in expansion of its plant in Yauco

Rainer Lehmann and Manuel Laboy.

Is the largest single investment Sartorius Group has made outside Goettingen in the current year.

Due to the sustained strong growth of the Bioprocess Solutions Division of Sartorius, capacity of the Yauco plant, which is located in the southwest of Puerto Rico and mainly supplies the US market, will be more than doubled. Considerable extension of production capacities that began in 2016 is the largest single investment Sartorius Group has made outside Goettingen in the current year. "We are excited about Sartorius' commitment to Yauco. The factory is important for the economic development of our region,” said Laboy.

Rainer Lehmann, member of the Executive Board of Sartorius AG, commented: "Sartorius has been successfully doing business in Yauco for more than 35 years. The expansion of the plant is both a financial and a strategic investment. We have many excellent long-term employees there and very high production quality. Moreover, we find that the region provides a highly conducive business environment as well as a favorable investment climate.” A leading pharmaceutical and laboratory supplier, Sartorius will invest more than 100 million US dollars total between late 2016 and 2018 in an additional area covering nearly 190,000 m2 or around 2 million sq ft. Lehmann emphasized that expansion of the plant was on schedule and within the budget.

Since 1982, Sartorius has been manufacturing filters in Yauco and, since 2012, aseptic bags. With the ongoing expansion of the Yauco site, the company plans to double production of single-use bags for biopharmaceutical manufacture and filters and to triple cleanroom capacities by 2018. This will be accompanied by a significant increase in the number of employees. Currently, more than 450 people work at Sartorius in Yauco.