In a ribbon-cutting ceremony the process and laboratory equipment provider Sartorius (Göttingen, Germany; www.sartorius.com) inaugurated its new plant at the Sartorius Group’s location in Bangalore, India. Together with some 100 guests from the scientific community and politics, CEO Joachim Kreuzburg, supervisory board chairman Professor Arnold Picot and managing director of Sartorius India Amit Chatterjee officially started up operations at the large building complex covering 10,000 square meters. At its new site, Sartorius has combined its five decentralized individual locations in Bangalore into a single new plant on premises comprising an area of 40,000 square meters, thus creating new capacity for the company’s fast-growing Indian business in both Group divisions. Among other products, Sartorius in Bangalore, India, develops and manufactures bioreactors and additional equipment for pharmaceutical customers, laboratory equipment as well scales and other weighing equipment for industrial applications. The Sartorius Group invested approximately €5 million in the new plant complex.
Sartorius opens new plant in India
| By Gerald Ondrey
In his address to the attendees, Kreuzburg stated that over more than two decades, Sartorius has built up a strong position in India with respect to its local and global customers from the biotech, pharmaceutical and food sectors. Following its German sites with some 2,220 employees, Sartorius India with its staff numbering nearly 500 members now has the second-largest workforce within the entire Sartorius Group. “I am especially delighted that despite the impact of the financial and economic crisis, we can propel the further development of our business in India forward with our new plant,“ said Kreuzburg. In the biopharmaceutical field, India has meanwhile been playing a globally respected role, especially in the production of generics, and increasingly for innovative medications as well, according to Kreuzburg. In its Mechatronics Division, the company is benefiting, among other things, from the increasing investments made by global and local food producers alike, he said. Sartorius is providing its weighing and control equipment for these producers’ manufacturing operations, as Kreuzburg commented. “Many of our international key accounts are increasingly expanding their production and research facilities in India and are manufacturing products there in compliance with international standards. For these key accounts, we as global suppliers who are thoroughly familiar with the local and international requirements are a first-class partner on site,“ stated Dr. Kreuzburg. In India, Sartorius employs engineers and scientists who have an outstanding education in microbiology, chemistry and process engineering and are currently working on new developments for both of the company’s divisions, according to Kreuzburg.
The company’s expanded capacity in India enables it to create and develop new process technologies and to custom-tailor these together with customers in the applications laboratories at the plant complex in order to meet customers’ individual process requirements. The new facilities are designed to supply the Indian marketplace and additional Asian markets and, moreover, produce components for the Group’s own manufacture worldwide.
Sartorius has been operating in India since 1987. The new plant is located near the international airport and the central hub of the city of Bangalore, thus offering optimal connections for international and national transportation and logistics.