The opening ceremony of the Pharma Valley complex, on Friday, 10 July 2015, marked the end of the first stage of the biggest investment of the pharmaceutical company JGL d.d. from Rijeka, which will greatly affect the future of JGL's business. Thanks to the new facility, this pharmaceutical company from Rijeka is now ranked among the leading manufacturers of sterile pharmaceutical forms - drops, sprays and aerosols - in the European Union. The total value of the Svilno investment, located in Rijeka's hinterland, amounts to EUR 48 million.
The project has two key goals - to secure the preconditions and capacities in development, production and storage for the realisation of the company's long-term growth plans, and to bring all production and technological locations in one place. The investment comprises both locations of the company - the existing location Svilno 1 with production facilities, laboratories, packaging storage facility, and supporting facilities covering 13,800 square metres, and the new location Svilno 2 covering 79,000 square metres.
By following the trends in the pharmaceutical industry, JGL is continuously trying to improve the existing state, having in mind the framework consisting of standards, very strict and demanding rules of good manufacturing practice, that regulate pharmaceutical production. The Pharma Valley project most certainly represents our future. When planning the project, we aimed to satisfy our current needs for increased capacities and to increase our competitiveness by introducing certain novelties. The project was divided into four stages, and the first one has just been finalised. One of its innovations is most certainly the fully automated, robotised storage facility, where the presence of people is not required, and with over 5,000 pallet places. The storage facility was designed so that there are no conventional corridors for the passage of forklifts or cranes. Instead, the entire space is filled with pallet places. Pallets move with the help of satellites, and everything is controlled by the storage facility software connected to the production software. Another novelty is the transition from serial production to continuous production, which will provide us with flexibility and increase our overall efficiency. Product packaging lines will be adjusted to market requirements, and each packaged box will be received by a robot, palletised, and sent automatically to the storage facility," said Mate Poropat, the Pharma Valley project manager and JGL's executive director for pharmaceutical and technical operations.
Furthermore, and considering that the company is focused on the development and production of drugs for the senses, additional capacities in the existing plants for sterile solutions and the new plant for aerosols and equipping of solutions will certainly help the company to realise its strategy of further improving the position of its key brands on the global health market.
"The production unit will include the production of sterile solutions in drops and sprays, and the production of aerosols (Bag-on-Valve). Finalisation will take place at the Svilno 2 location and it will be adapted to the packaging lines depending on the needs and specificities of markets. Products for larger markets will be packaged using automatic, fast machines, while the products for smaller markets will be packaged using small and flexible machines. These changes will enable JGL a more effective and efficient production with the aim of a quick response to the needs of increasingly demanding markets of today, while optimising operating costs. On the other hand, we now have free facilities at disposal at Svilno 1, where we have increased the production of sterile pharmaceutical forms, eye drops, for which we received the European GMP certification. The technology installed is that of renowned German manufacturers, highly automated, and with the capacity of 250 bottles per minute," said Poropat.
This project increased JGL's production capacities by 45 million product units, so they now amount to a total of 104 million product units. This will ensure JGL's growth for the next ten years at least. JGL is looking at the second stage of the project - the isolation of an automatic high-rack storage facility, followed by the isolation of separate production, and finally the isolation of a development centre in the fourth stage. JGL's modular expansion will also be possible at the same location, which will ensure the preconditions for fast adjustment to market and customer requirements in the long-term as well. Additional expansion will enable an additional 20 to 40 million product units in the short term, depending on the technology.
The rates of new employees in the next period will be in line with the needs arising from defined sales plans, particularly plans for further export growth. About 200 people were employed in JGL in the last two years, and after the realisation of complete functionality of the new complex, an additional 100 work places are expected. Given the fact that the vision of global leadership in the field of nasal decongestants and ophthalmics requires an exceptional technological and therapeutic focus, JGL believes that Pharma Valley will undoubtedly contribute to that goal.
PHARMA VALLEY IN NUMBERS
EUR 48,000,000 - the value of investment
31,000 work hours - spent in total by internal resources
2 years - total duration of project realisation
99,000 m² - total surface area of the "Pharma Valley" complex
20,000 m² - surroundings
20,500 m² - total surface area of closed facilities
13,000 m² - main building
5,000 m² - renovated existing facilities
2,400 m² - production halls
2,400 m² - automatic robotised high-rack storage facility
1,100 m² - storage facility for raw materials and semi-finished products
2,100 m² - offices
900 m² - water reservoir
300 m² - power plant
104,000,000 product units - capacity of total production facilities
29,000,000 product units - capacity of sterile drops
28,700,000 product units - sterile sprays
13,000,000 product units - capacity of tablets and capsules
11,000,000 product units - semi-solid forms
6,900,000 product units with the possibility of expansion to 17,800,000 units - aerosols
4,000,000 product units - non-sterile solutions