Sandoz, the generic division of Novartis, has opened the Sandoz Packaging Center in Stryków, Poland with an investment off PLN 171 million ($47.4 million). The drug manufacturing plant in Stryków is one of the biggest Sandoz production facilities. The 5 billion tablets manufactured every year in Stryków are exported to nearly 60 countries worldwide, including Poland. Among others, the Stryków plant produces painkillers, anti-inflammatory medicines (ketoprofen), diabetes medicines (metformin, glimepiride), as well as medications for vascular hypertension (ramipril, torasemide). As part of the enlargement of the Sandoz production and logistics site in Stryków, a packaging and warehousing center was added to the existing manufacturing plant.

Sandoz says the project is one of the largest investment projects in the Polish pharmaceutical sector completed in recent years. The expansion has created 90 new jobs to date with the expectation of at least 40 additional ones.

The construction of the Sandoz Packaging Center took nearly two years. It started in June 2013 and ended in the second quarter of 2015. Previously, the majority of the tablets produced in Stryków were transported to other Sandoz facilities. At the first stages of the construction project, eight packaging lines and a fully automated warehousing system were installed in the new building. This will enable the packaging process to be carried out directly at the manufacturing site. This investment will allow Sandoz to pack around 4 billion of manufactured tablets, without the need to send them to external packaging facilities. The plant is expected to reach full production by the end of 2015.

Currently, the company's workforce in Poland is around 1,200, out of which about 450 employees work in Stryków. The new investment will create at least 130 new jobs. The company is still looking to hire mid-level executives, managers, laboratory technicians, and shop floor workers.

Source: Sandoz