Expansions: West’s new facility in Singapore for injectable medicines; PPG invests US$44 mn to boost global powder production

US-headquartered West Pharmaceutical Services, a supplier for injectable drug administration, recently inaugurated its newly advanced manufacturing facility in Jurong, Singapore. This is part of West’s commitment to invest more than US$350 million globally in 2023, with the majority used to expand capacity and deliver on demand of drug customers for the West’s products and services, and to meet the growing needs of customers to support sensitive and complex molecules and the changing regulatory environment.

The Jurong facility investment comes at a critical time as the advancement of biologics is reshaping the way many diseases are prevented, diagnosed, and treated. This facility investment enables West to serve its customers’ requirements by providing high-quality containment products for injectable drugs at one location, from start to finish, in the Asia Pacific region, helping to reduce overall lead times for customers, it adds.

The 18,000-sq-m Jurong facility is now equipped with coating, pharmaceutical washing, sterilisation and automated vision inspection capabilities for elastomers. This minimises the risk of potential contamination and compatibility issues with packaging components. In addition, new moulding and compounding equipment have been installed with improved energy efficiency and automation capabilities.

West’s Jurong facility now has the capabilities to manufacture a full range of advanced containment products, such as components having Westar Select quality level, Envision verification process, and FluroTec barrier film, to meet the healthcare industry’s growing focus on biologics, including cell and gene therapeutics, while providing customers with stronger on-the-ground technical support. It will also support Singapore in achieving a complete supply chain manufacturing capability for future vaccine response.

The company also installed an eco-friendly cooling tower control system to optimise energy at the facility, with savings of 281,772 Kwh and a reduction of 115 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions. A feasibility study is also under way to install solar panels on the rooftop of the facility.

Eric Green, President/CEO of West said, “This year, West celebrates a major milestone - its 100th anniversary. As we embark on the next century of scientific innovation, we look forward to strengthening our global networks to meet the needs of the growing critical changes in healthcare and drug delivery. This investment in our Jurong facility will continue to play a critical role in fulfilling our purpose of providing customers and their patients access to medicines globally.”

West employs more than 600 people across three locations in Singapore - the JTC Summit Office, the Jurong plant, and the Gemini laboratory. To date, over 200 new jobs have been created as part of the investment and approximately 40 additional roles are expected to be added by the end of 2023.

Meanwhile in other news, US-based coatings provider PPG has announced a US$44 million investment to upgrade five powder coating manufacturing facilities in the US and Latin America. The projects are part of PPG’s strategic efforts to expand its powder coatings offerings and increase global production to meet growing customer demand for sustainably advantaged products, it adds.

Collectively, the investment – US$30 million for US plants and US$14 million for facilities in Latin America – is expected to increase overall capacity, add production capabilities for bonded metallic powders, improve processing times with automated packaging, and enhance capabilities to produce small, medium and large batches.

Enhancements and expansions are already completed or under way at powder production facilities in Brazil, Ind., Gainesville, Texas; Greensboro, N.C.; San Juan del Rio, Mexico; and Sumaré, Brazil. PPG expects to complete these total projects by the fourth quarter of 2023.

Since 2019, PPG has focused on growing its powder coatings capacity and capabilities, making four strategic acquisitions and expanding production and service elements at seven sites across the globe.

A key factor driving the rapid adoption of powder coatings is the growing interest in more sustainable solutions. Powder coatings are generally formulated without solvents that release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and in the application line, these coatings can be reclaimed and reused.

PPG adds it is a leading supplier of powder coatings to the automotive, general industrial, appliance, furniture and other key industries. It has an expansive global footprint with 21 powder manufacturing plants – seven with bonding capabilities – a powder resin plant, an R&D development centre and a global technical centre.

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