Pharma Projects
Propel Pennsylvania

Vaccine manufacturer Aventis Pasteur opened one new facility and began work on another in Northeastern Pennsylvania during a busy March for the company.
        First, Aventis broke ground on its $77.5-million formulation and filling building at its Swiftwater campus. The building is the largest single capital expenditure by the company and is part of the company's ongoing $150-million investment in industrial capacity. Aventis expects to complete construction by mid-2004.
        "The building will enable us to adopt the latest technological advances, ultimately ensuring the company's long-term commitment to the delivery of the safest and most effective vaccines possible," says Jim Robinson, Aventis' vice president of industrial operations.
        Aventis also opened a new distribution center in Lackawanna County in March. The 75,000-sq.-ft. (6,967 sq.-m.) facility has the capacity to process one million orders per year.

R.R. Donnelley Corp. will expand its manufacturing facility in Lancaster, Pa., as part of the company's 2003 capital spending plan of $250 million.

        Germany-based B. Braun Biotech International, a maker of laboratory fermenters and other biotech-related equipment, plans to move into a new $6-million, 85,000-sq.-ft. (7,900-sq.-m.) plant in Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, by the end of the year.
        In Lancaster, printing specialist R.R. Donnelley will expand its manufacturing facility by 140,000 sq. ft. (13,000 sq. m.) to include a web gravure press and associated equipment. Part of an overall company spending plan of $250 million in 2003, the expansion will be operational in 2005.