In June 2017, Germany-based medical technology company Siemens Healthineers began an expansion and refurbishment of its laboratory diagnostic manufacturing facility in Walpole, Massachusetts.
Estimated to cost $300m, the expanded facility will be used to manufacture the company’s Atellica™ Solution. The expansion is scheduled to be completed within three years.
Recommended White Papers
Recommended Buyers Guides
The project is in line with Siemens’ strategic growth plans and is expected to increase the area’s property tax revenue by around $10m over the next 20 years.
The project is expected to create 700 jobs over the next ten years, increasing the facility’s total number of employees to 1,600 by 2026.
Siemens Healthineers Walpole facility expansion details
Siemens Healthineers’ existing 500,000ft² manufacturing facility will be expanded by an additional 300,000ft² as part of the project.
The additional space will include more manufacturing spaces, a warehouse, office spaces and a laboratory complex.
The facility will be used to produce laboratory diagnostics assays for immunoassay instruments, as well as consumables for molecular and blood gas testing instruments.
The expansion will be undertaken in multiple phases. The topping-off of the building’s steel frame structure was completed in January 2018.
Products produced at the expanded Walpole facility
The expanded facility will produce the Atellica™ solution. This solution is a flexible, scalable and automation-ready immunoassay and chemistry analyser.
The solution allow laboratory diagnostics professionals to spend more time driving outcomes and less time on operations. It is designed to overcome common clinical laboratory challenges and combine immunoassay and clinical chemistry analysers to deliver better outcomes.
Financing for the Walpole facility expansion
The local governments of Massachusetts are offering investment incentives for the expansion project.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is providing job creation tax incentives through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Centre and infrastructure support under the MassWorks and workforce training grants.
Walpole is also supporting the project through tax increment financing and property tax abatement.
Contractors involved in the project
In July 2017, US-based technical consultant Jacobs Engineering Group was given a contract to provide engineering and construction support for the expansion project.
The work includes masterplan development for production capacity enhancement, the expansion of office and laboratory spaces and the addition of a warehouse at the existing facility.
Marketing commentary on Siemens Healthineers
Siemens Healthineers offers products and services in the areas of diagnostics, imaging and molecular medicine. The company produces 10 billion diagnostic tests a year.
The company, which employs 46,000 people worldwide, also develops digital health and enterprise services.
Established in 1979, Siemens’ Walpole manufacturing facility is one of the company’s 60 manufacturing sites in the US. The facility underwent an initial expansion in 2007 and was selected for further expansion due to the advantages the location offers in terms of infrastructure and manufacturing costs.
Financial support provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Massachusetts Life Sciences Centre also contributed to the decision to expand the facility.
