West Pharmaceutical Services announced the official opening of its new Waterford, Ireland facility, a global center of excellence for West's advanced manufacturing network, and the launch of a new product line—Westar Select. Customers and senior-level Irish government officials joined West at a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the facility's opening.
"West is very pleased to celebrate the official opening of our state-of-the-art facility in Waterford, as well as the launch of Westar Select, both of which are the culmination of efforts by many to support our company's commitment to meeting the dynamic needs of our pharmaceutical and biotech partners," said Eric Green, President and CEO, West. "Our investment in Waterford, in addition to our previously announced investments in Kinston, N.C., Jurong, Singapore, and Dublin, Ireland, enable West to provide the highest levels of quality across the products and services we provide for the global customer base we serve."
The new, 20,500 square meter facility, situated on a 44-acre campus, will produce West's proprietary elastomeric laminate sheeting, which is used to package insulin for use in pen injectors. Additionally, it will offer high-value finishing for components, including stoppers and plungers, produced at other West facilities around the world. These services, designed to mitigate the risk of potential contamination and compatibility issues with packaging components, include pharmaceutical washing (Westar RS components), Envision verification, steam sterilization (Westar RU components), and flexible packaging offerings.
The Waterford site will also be among the first in West's global manufacturing network to produce Westar Select, the latest in West's Westar quality enhancement offering. In addition to a tighter particulate specification, Westar Select will be made available through an optimized global manufacturing network with multi-site production capabilities to ensure a continuous supply chain, while helping to reduce regulatory complexity for customers.
"At West, we understand that our customers are increasingly challenged to meet new and expanding regulatory requirements, and with that comes an expectation for the highest quality in drug delivery and packaging components," said David Montecalvo, Senior Vice President, Global Operations and Supply Chain, West. "Westar Select employs next generation manufacturing capabilities and product attributes that enable us to optimize product specifications, and to respond more rapidly and flexibly to customer demand and evolving market needs."
West's Waterford facility currently employs approximately 100 people in both local and global functions, with plans for additional hiring.