German science and technology company Merck KGaA has announced the opening of its expanded Life Science distribution centre at Schnelldorf, which involved an investment of €180m ($195.7m).

With this investment, the facility has almost doubled in size, adding 25,000m² to its area.

The development bolsters the company's capacity to meet the surging global demand for critical drugs and contribute to public health significantly.

The newly expanded site now features a manual down-filling operation and an extra distribution area for a wide array of products destined for laboratories and research institutions worldwide.

The Schnelldorf centre's workforce comprises 470 specialists including engineers, and manufacturing and distribution experts.

The site expansion is part of the company’s multi-year investment programme in the life science business sector.

The company has announced projects worth more than €2bn since 2020. They span Europe, China and the US, reflecting the company's strategic focus on enhancing industrial capacity and capabilities.

Globally, Merck's Life Science business encompasses more than 50 production and testing sites, along with 64 distribution centres with a workforce of 27,000 employees across 65 countries.

Merck Life Science CEO Matthias Heinzel stated: “By combining manual down-filling capabilities with our distribution expertise, our customers will benefit from increased product availability and quicker delivery.

“This is critical to ensuring that medicines reach patients faster, safely and more efficiently. This is how we do our part to impact life and health with science.”

In April 2024, Merck announced an investment of more than €300m ($320.8m) in a new Life Science Research Center at its global headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany.