(From the Delaware Prosperity Partnership. Click here for the full story on their website)
Just hearing “AstraZeneca” summons visions of lab-coated scientists concocting various tinctures and chemicals in beakers. But the company – particularly its 570,000-square-foot facility in Newark – is also a manufacturing marvel.
The facility, resting on 145 acres, first opened in 1971. Its primary function is end-to-end production. A large proportion of AstraZeneca’s products are manufactured, formulated, packed, warehoused, tested and distributed from this location. At present, the site is pumping out 550 million tablets per year.
On top of operating a state-of-the-art plant, AstraZeneca has hired a diverse staff of 250 employees. Site leadership is 50 percent female with representation from six countries.
The Newark site’s principal engineer, John Myers, said that in the last seven years, over $100 million has been invested.
Efficiency and production are one thing, but AstraZeneca wants to ensure their operation is a good steward of the environment as well.
To this end, Myers says AstraZeneca has been investing roughly $2 million per year in plant upgrades. The company also has installed a boiler heat recovery system and implemented purified water reuse and chilled water-free cooling projects.
