Siemens Healthineers will invest approximately $300 million over the next four years in its facility in Walpole, Massachusetts, which houses manufacturing and research and development for laboratory diagnostics. The move could create up to 700 permanent jobs, the company said.
At 500,000 square feet, the Walpole site currently employs more than 700 people and manufactures consumables for Siemens’ molecular and blood gas testing devices as well as assays that run on the Advia Centaur suite of immunoassay devices. These include assays to detect molecules associated with anemia, hepatitis and HIV. The plant is also slated to produce assays for a new device, the Atellica Solution, which is currently under FDA review, the company said in a statement.
“The expansion of the Walpole facility fits into the strategic growth plans for the company and allows us to increase our manufacturing footprint in the United States, the largest healthcare market in the world,” Siemens Healthineers CEO Bernd Montag said in the statement. “The laboratory instruments and reagents developed and manufactured at the Siemens Healthineers Walpole facility impact patients and healthcare providers across the globe.”
The company will start renovating over the coming weeks and the expansion will kick off this summer, according to the statement. The company will create at least 400 new jobs, but said it could potentially bring that number up to 700, doubling employment at the site by 2026.
Siemens rebranded its healthcare business as Healthineers earlier this year. At the time, the company said it would bolster its medical imaging and lab diagnostics business while adding new offerings—such as digital services and new technologies in therapeutic and molecular diagnostics—and seeking M&A targets.