Global Healthcare Company Grifols to Create 140 New Jobs in Dublin

Global Healthcare Company Grifols to Create 140 new Jobs bioscienceWith $100 Million Investment in Dublin

Grifols the world’s third-largest plasma product manufacturer and a pioneer in the research and development of therapeutic alternatives designed to contribute to both scientific and social development, has officially opened its Bioscience Division global operations center in Ireland.

The facility is located at Grange Castle Business Park Dublin and will house operating activities including the warehousing of plasma, intermediate and finished product; labeling, packaging and final conditioning of the product; regulatory and quality activities relating to the supply of plasma and plasma derivatives; R&D global management office; administrative and commercial activities among others.

In addition, the Group’s global treasury activities are carried out at this facility. The global treasury function allows Grifols to operate its own in-house bank, acting as the only borrower (credit facilities, bonds, etc.) and lending funds to Group´s subsidiaries.

The new Grifols Worldwide Operations Facility also centralizes decision-making with regard to the Bioscience Division commercial policy, R&D and supply chain. Grifols relocated these operations and its treasury function to Ireland in 2014.

The center is scheduled to come on stream in the first half of 2016 and will generate approximately 140 jobs when it is fully operational.

The Bioscience Division generated sales revenue of 2,513 million euros in 2014, or 75% of the group’s total net revenue. It manufactures plasma proteins and focuses on promoting its therapeutic use.

Grifols’ new facility has been inaugurated by Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton.The Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald; the Spanish High Commissioner for Marca España, Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros; and the Spanish Ambassador to Ireland, José María Rodríguez Coso also attended the grand opening. They were joined by the President and CEO of Grifols, Victor Grifols, members of the company’s Board of Directors, as well as by several senior management of the Group and CEO of IDA Ireland, Martin Shanahan.

Approximately 100 million dollars have been invested in the new Grifols operations facility in Dublin, that occupies 22,000 m2 of an 11-hectare site.

The project is the result of Grifols growth strategy, with a strong emphasis on the internationalization and globalization of activities. Grifols generated 93.4% of its sales outside of Spain in 2014, and the company currently has direct commercial presence in 30 countries and distributes its products in 100.

Regarding Bioscience Division, the three Grifols’ industrial facilities located in the United States (Clayton and Los Angeles) and Spain (Barcelona) are able to produce 26 different types of plasma-derived products (plasma proteins for therapeutic use include albumin, immunoglobulin, factor VIII, alpha1 antitrypsin, etc., in several concentrations and trade names) which are marketed in 67 countries. As a result, Grifols is able to make approximately 650 types of presentations, including packaging and labeling, for different products.

In order to respond to the new reality of the group, the company launched in 2013 its Operating and Distribution Infrastructure Expansion Plan aimed at improving its efficiency to support the demand in all countries where the company operates on the basis of maximum flexibility and continuity of supply.

The new worldwide Operations Facility is part of this Expansion Plan and will be the global logistics and distribution hub of Grifols’ Bioscience Division. The site has been chosen for its first-class infrastructures, a strategic gate board to the European market. In this respect:
1.    It will be the central warehouse for all plasma coming from the United States, as it has the capacity to store up to 1,150 pallets of plasma at -30 degrees centigrade, and is equipped with quality control laboratories.
2.    It will be the central warehouse for intermediate and finished products, with capacity to store up to 3,000 pallets of intermediate and finished products at a temperature of +5 degrees centigrade.
3.    It will centralize the tasks of labeling, packing, final conditioning, and distribution of finished plasma product to all Grifols’ commercial subsidiaries and global distributors, other than Spain and the United States, facilitating a fast flow of goods. It has 4 labeling and packing lines. The company expects to process about 10 million product vials in 2016. This amount will double up in the long term.

Commenting on the investment Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland said “Grifols is a very welcome addition to the thriving Life sciences sector in Ireland. Its decision to establish this important part of its international business in Ireland plays an important role in attracting other investments from the European marketplace. This is a breakthrough investment for Ireland in the important blood plasma subsector of biopharmaceuticals. Gaining European FDI is a key objective of IDA’s new strategy, Winning: Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019.”

The investment is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland.

Joe Robbins

(Director) BBS (Hons), MBPICS – Shannon Office

Joe Robbins is co-founder of CareerWise Recruitment. A graduate of the University of Limerick (Degree in Business Studies, 1985), Joe worked in the UK for five years where he specialised in materials management, production management and plant management for a number of companies.

He returned to Ireland in 1992 to become Operations Manager for a Cork-based start-up, FMC Automotive Division which was subsequently taken over by Snap-on Equipment. Joe managed the business re-location of this company to Shannon in 1997 before setting up CareerWise Recruitment in 1999.

He is a committee member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Mid-West region, and a former Director and Vice President of the Shannon Chamber of Commerce. Joe is former Chairperson of the Sixmilebridge Camogie Club and current Chairperson of the Clare County Camogie Board.

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