Pharmaceutical glass manufacturer Gerresheimer is expanding its site in Skopje, North Macedonia, with a production hall for glass syringes.

The hall at the Skopje site adds approximately 7,600 m² of production space.

Gerresheimer will invest over €100 million in construction and equipment for the building.

The expansion will double the number of employees in Skopje from around 250 to 500 over the next three to five years.

The first syringe production lines will ramp up in Skopje shortly, with more to be added in 2025.

This means the company is currently concentrating syringe production at its sites in Bünde (Germany), Querétaro (Mexico) and Skopje.

Dietmar Siemssen, CEO of Gerresheimer, said: "Combining production capacities for plastic and glass at one location for the efficient production of integrated solutions for the pharma industry is a further step in the implementation of our corporate strategy formula g.

"As a systems and solutions provider, our customers receive individually tailored, fully integrated solutions.

“In the future, for example, we will also supply ready-to-fill syringe systems from Skopje."

The production hall is designed for the manufacture of syringes and other primary packaging made of tubular glass.

The hall provides space for precision glass forming lines developed and manufactured by Gerresheimer, as well as assembly and ready-to-fill lines.

It also includes Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Class C and D clean rooms.

Since 2019, Gerresheimer has produced drug delivery systems, as well as diagnostic and medical products and components made of plastic, at the Skopje site.

The site also has 100,000 m² of additional space available for future expansion.

In addition, Gerresheimer uses inspection systems for quality assurance as part of its certified quality management system.

This includes the Gx G3 inspection system with high-speed camera technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based image processing developed in-house by Gerresheimer for syringe production.