BD will build a 200M€, latest generation plant for glass syringes, creating 600 jobs in Zaragoza
Aragon grows as the new pharmaceutical benchmark in Europe
In two years and a half, Becton Dickinson (BD), one of the largest medical technology companies in the world, will begin to manufacture in Zaragoza the first components of its latest generation glass syringes that will reach an annual production of 400 million units in 2030.
With a consummated investment in Aragon of 450 million euros, the American multinational founded in 1897 presents itself as a reliable company that will continue to invest another 206 million euros between 2021 and 2030. This investment will lead to the creation of 150 qualified jobs -in areas such as electromechanics, metrology, robotics or process quality control- until the end of 2023, a figure that is expected to increase to 600 workers upon completion of the start-up of all production lines.
The project for the new plant located in Zaragoza is linked to the operations of the company’s facilities in Fraga, which will contribute to its consolidation and potential growth. Both plants will be connected through their production processes and the possibility of sharing knowledge, which will make both factories located in Aragon a benchmark within the Becton Dickinson organization and the Aragonese industrial fabric itself. Aragon is becoming a firm competitor of Liège (Belgium) and Basel (Switzerland), thanks to its strategic entry position to Europe and its logistical capacity.
The Fragatina plant has an area of 65,000 m2 and is one of the largest factories in the region, fully automated and 100% powered by renewable energy . Its staff reaches, after the last hiring, almost 700 employees. With a production of 6 billion units per year, it is the only plant in the company that integrates the entire supply chain, including direct delivery to the customer, with an automated warehouse whose capacity of 24,000 pallets will increase to 38,000 after the expansion works.
On July 14, 2021, the Governing Council of Aragon approved the declaration as an investment of regional interest for the new manufacturing plant, in other words, streamlining the administrative processing of this project. The project includes the phased construction of a sustainable plant for the manufacture of plastic components of multiple types and production lines for Hypack glass syringes, with their corresponding equipment and services. Long-term planning is to optimize space utilization to allow the installation of at least 10-12 lines of these syringes, equivalent to 1.5 billion units of syringes per year.
The company will continue working with the Government of Aragon to develop the legal-technical framework so that the industrial park can accommodate other companies interested in settling there.
Source: Aragonhoy
