German medical device manufacturer Gerresheimer AG is expanding its presence in Georgia to take advantage of a boom in inhaler and insulin pen demand. The investment is in the millions of dollars and will create an additional 120 jobs in the process.
The Düsseldorf-based operation has spent lots of time in Georgia, having opened its first plant in Peachtree City back in 1993 and expanded it again in 2009. About 120 people work there now, the company said, and its facility handles medical plastic systems manufacturing, creating items for medical device clients including inhalers, insulin pens, lancets and other diagnostic systems. Plant expansion begins this year with expectations of coming online in 2015 with an additional 60,000 square feet at a multiacre campus.
Gerresheimer said it is sinking "double digit million dollars" into the project, which will create jobs in executive, administrative, supervisory and production roles.
The medical device industry includes contract companies that make diagnostic and delivery mechanisms for other device and drug industry clients, and Georgia is right to nurture this kind of job and medical industry subset.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said in the jobs announcement that "Georgia's healthcare industry is uniquely poised to help Gerresheimer grow" and that Georgia brings "an eager, skilled workforce and an advanced life science and healthcare ecosystem" to the table.
But it's simpler than that for Gerresheimer. Andreas Schütte, the company's head of plastics and devices, said in a statement that Gerresheimer simply needs to accommodate soaring demand for a particular type of device.
"We are experiencing worldwide growth in demand for user-friendly, safe and easy-to-use medical devices such as inhalers and insulin pens," he said. "There are a great many opportunities for us in this business segment in the U.S. and our Peachtree City facility will play a crucial role in helping us exploit them."
- read the release
- here's the Atlanta Business Chronicle's take