With the opening of the FirstLine™ plant in Middletown, USA, Datwyler is further expanding its presence and capacity in the world's largest pharmaceutical market. First Line is Datwyler's most advanced manufacturing concept for high-quality elastomer components for the fast-growing global biotech and pharmaceutical markets.
Increase of FirstLine™ production capacity by 50% by 2020
Construction of the Middletown facility began in December 2016 and since then Datwyler has invested more than CHF 100 million in the construction of the state-of-the-art plant. Some 120 people will be employed at the new location. In the fourth quarter, certification will be carried out by customers before series production starts at the beginning of 2019. With the existing FirstLine™ capacities in Belgium and the recently expanded FirstLine™ capacities in India, Datwyler will in future be able to serve customers in the three most important economic regions, namely the USA, Europe and Asia, with locally produced FirstLine™ components. The new production capacity will enable Datwyler to increase its global FirstLine™ volume by 50% by 2020 and accelerate profitable growth.
State-of-the-art standard for high-quality elastomer components
The FirstLine™ standard is an advanced manufacturing concept for high-quality elastomer components with state-of-the-art clean room technology, automatic production cells, fully automatic camera inspection and a unique washing process. The innovative manufacturing concept exceeds the highest quality standards of the European and American regulatory authorities and is certified according to ISO 15378.
Leading partner of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies
Datwyler has been a leading partner to global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for more than 40 years. Datwyler’s Sealing Solutions division offers its customers a wide range of specialized and unique elas-tomer compounds, coatings and production standards. The high-quality components make it possible to efficiently prepare injectable drugs in modern administration systems such as prefilled syringes or pens and ad-minister them safely to patients.