West Pharmaceutical Services has completed a 60,000 square foot expansion at its contract manufacturing facility near Mulhuddart, County Dublin. The expansion is in response to customer demand for medical device manufacturing—especially in the area of diabetes—and represents West’s most recent investment in Ireland, where the company is also building a new pharmaceutical component manufacturing facility.

West also announced that its contract manufacturing business—formerly known as The Tech Group—will now align with the West brand and do business as West. This transition reflects the significance of contract manufacturing in West’s long-term strategy in integrated packaging and delivery for injectable medicines. The company said the additional capacity in Dublin will make it possible to better service the company’s growing healthcare and medical device contract manufacturing business, which is focused on supplying high-quality molding and assembly solutions for the production of medical devices such as auto-injectors and continuous glucose monitoring systems. West anticipates 100 new jobs will be added to the business over the next five years as a result of the expansion.

“As the healthcare market becomes increasingly complex, West is advancing our core competencies in the development, manufacturing and final packaging of complex drug delivery systems and diagnostic devices for our customers,” said Karen Flynn, senior vice president and chief commercial officer, West. “We are excited about the growth and expansion we are experiencing in both our contract manufacturing business in Dublin as well as our proprietary products business in Waterford, both of which will support increasing demand from our global customer base.” 

Along with the expansion of its Dublin facility, West is also growing its proprietary product business in Waterford, Ireland. The company previously announced the construction of a center of excellence for its proprietary elastomeric sheeting and injectable component product lines. The new plant is expected to begin full commercial operations in 2018.