Dive Brief:
- Medical equipment maker Steris will invest $600 million to build a manufacturing and distribution hub in North Carolina for chemicals used by healthcare and pharmaceutical customers, the Dublin-based company said Wednesday.
- Steris plans to move its existing operations in St. Louis and Plymouth, Minnesota, to the site in Sanford, North Carolina, southwest of the Raleigh-Durham area. The 600,000-square-foot campus will create 335 jobs and is expected to be operational in the next two to three years, according to a news release.
- This is Steris’ largest investment in a single site. North Carolina’s Economic Investment Committee awarded the project a Job Development Investment Grant earlier this week that allows reimbursement of up to $3.2 million over 12 years.
Dive Insight:
The investment is part of a larger trend of international companies expanding their operational footprints in the United States to be closer to key customers and mitigate trade pressures.
Switzerland-based Octapharma last week said it will invest $1.5 billion to establish its first U.S. factory in Rock Hill, South Carolina, with a focus on plasma-derived medicines. Drugmakers Astrazeneca and Novartis have committed to spending tens of billions of dollars building or upgrading existing U.S. facilties over the coming years.
Founded in 1985, Steris is a global provider of chemical products for infection prevention, including indicators, pharmaceutical detergents, disinfectants and sterilization equipment. The company has 16 global manufacturing facilities, including seven across Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Minnesota, Missouri, California and Pennsylvania, according to its latest annual report.
Steris said it chose North Carolina to be its central manufacturing hub for its “availability of key technical knowledge and skills in a growing region.” The investment is also supported by the state, Lee County, city of Stanford and their economic development programs.
“Creating a formulated chemistries Center of Excellence will allow us to accelerate innovation, expand capacity and optimize our U.S. chemistries manufacturing and distribution network,” Dan Carestio, Steris president and CEO, said in a statement. “Our customers save lives every day, and with this investment we will be well positioned to support their needs for years to come.”
The new site will include advanced manufacturing, research and development, lab, warehouse and distribution operations, according to a news release. The average salary is expected to be $68,704 per year.
The jobs created could have an annual payroll impact of more than $23 million for the region, according to the state. The project’s return on investment in public dollars is projected to be 325%, which means that for every dollar of potential cost to the state, the state expects to receive $4.25 in revenue.
As part of the job development investment grant, the state said it will move as much as $357,000 to an industrial development fund that finances infrastructure upgrades in rural communities.
