by
Thomas Dworetzky, Contributing Reporter | December 14, 2016
Siemens Healthineers is making another move at its Walpole, Massachusetts, facility.
The company has announced that it plans to pour about $300 million into the laboratory diagnostics manufacturing and research and development site.
“With a 37-year history of manufacturing products in Walpole, we saw an opportunity to leverage the local talent in the community to further our growth and expansion plans,” Franz Walt, President of Laboratory Diagnostics for Siemens Healthineers, said in a statement.
The plan calls for the investment to stretch through a four-year time frame.
“The expansion of the Walpole facility fits into the strategic growth plans for the company and allows us to increase our manufacturing footprint in the United States, the largest health care market in the world,” said Bernd Montag, chief executive officer, Siemens Healthineers.“The laboratory instruments and reagents developed and manufactured at the Siemens Healthineers Walpole facility impact patients and health care providers across the globe.”
The company thanked Walpole, the Massachusetts government and Representative Stephen Lynch for their support via
an official tweet,
"Thanks to support from Walpole, @MassGov and @RepStephenLynch, we're expanding our manufacturing and R&D site”
The facility plays a large role in the local economy, with over 700 employees.
“I am proud that Siemens has chosen to grow its laboratory diagnostics unit in Massachusetts,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “The Commonwealth is pleased to continue building a pro-growth economic environment that creates more jobs for our communities, and remains focused on supporting globally competitive life sciences and advanced manufacturing. I thank Siemens Healthineers for their commitment to Massachusetts, and look forward to continuing to partner with the company to move this important economic development project forward.”
Walpole is the main manufacturing facility for assays that run on the ADVIA Centaur family of immunoassay instruments, and for consumables for the company's molecular and blood gas testing instruments, according to Siemens.
Plans also now call for the plant to produce the assays that will run on the immunoassay module of the Atellica Solution, currently under FDA review.
The new buildup at the site is slated to start with work on existing structures in the next few weeks, and will ultimately allow for upgrading and expansion of the existing 500,000 sq. ft. complex.
