Bayer Building New Contraceptives Plant in Finland

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Bayer AG (Leverkusen, Germany) has revealed plans to invest 250 million euro (US$303 million) to expand its birth control manufacturing facilities in Turku, Finland.

Known as the world's "contraceptive capital", the company is going to build a new pharmaceutical plant in Turku and at the same time modernise its existing production plant, which has been in operation since the 1960s. The company claimed the new production plant will be one of the most modern pharmaceutical plants where "automation and robotics will be utilised extensively." The goal is that the new plant will be completed by 2025. Bayer employs about 1,000 people in Finland at Turku and at its global clinical research unit in Espoo.

"This investment is significant for both Bayer and Finland," explained Miriam Holstein, chief executive officer of Bayer Nordic. "It secures long-term production, which is a prerequisite for meeting Bayer's global sustainability goals. One of these goals is to provide one hundred million women in developing countries with access to modern prevention and family planning by the end of 2030. Turku plays a significant role in Bayer's global sustainable development strategy, which is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The investment will further promote the measures that our Turku plant has already taken over the past 30 years to support equality for women and family planning. In this way, we can influence women's health and social status, education and family size."

The new production plant will be built at an existing building in Artukais, where Bayer already has operations. Turku is one of Bayer's major global pharmaceutical plants where it develops and manufactures hormone coils and contraceptive capsules based on polymer-based drug delivery technology. The products are exported to more than 130 countries.

Jennifer Hunt, director of the Turku Production Plant said: "We are building a production facility using the latest technology such as digital data visualization and robotics. The plant's floor plan is also designed to optimize both material and personnel flows and thus improve our efficiency. The current plant was established in the 1960s, and thus investment is also needed to modernize our existing plant. Both plants must meet the same high standards and are needed to meet product demand."

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