• The site in Aubagne, Sartorius’ headquarters in France, will receive the major part of this investment to build new cleanrooms and R&D laboratories
• Sartorius will create up to 400 new jobs on permanent employment contracts between 2021 and 2025 at its four French sites

A growth plan on an unprecedented scale

At the end of December 2020, Sartorius employed almost 1,100 people on permanent contracts in France across four different sites in Aubagne, Cergy, Dourdan and Lourdes. By investing a total of 100 million euros between 2021 and 2025, Sartorius plans to expand and upgrade the Aubagne, Cergy and Lourdes facilities in the following project activities:

• Create additional cleanroom space of 4,000 square meters on top of the existing 5,000 square meters
• Deploy new R&D laboratories covering close to 2,000 square meters to strengthen the company’s innovation capacity
• Upgrade company logistics platforms and build over 10,000 square meters of warehouse facilities and storage depots
• Digitalize and automate equipment to increase capacity and competitive advantage

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, French Minister Delegate for Industry, said: “With this development plan, Sartorius is a concrete example of what we would like to see for our healthcare industry. Our goal is to be able to produce strategic medical products and devices in our country in the event of a crisis, yet also invest in the future and be at the forefront of tomorrow's biotherapies. This is how we will protect our citizens and make France the most innovative nation in Europe in terms of the healthcare industry.”

This investment will enable the company to further boost performance and become even more innovative as well as to meet the growing demand of the market. In this context, Sartorius is striving to accelerate and significantly expand the capacity of its sites in France.

“We see our biopharmaceutical customers entering a new phase characterized by a high pace of innovation, substantial investments in their operations, and increasing demands on us as their suppliers. We are supporting their efforts, significantly adding capacity and increasing the speed of delivery,” commented Luc Burgard, Managing Director of Sartorius Stedim FMT and Head of Operations of the Bioprocess Solutions Division at Sartorius. “The investments in our French facilities will strengthen our industrial capabilities in this country and secure the long-term future of our operations here.”

Sartorius in France plans to create up to 400 new jobs between 2021 and 2025

To support its growth ambitions, Sartorius will create up to 400 new permanent-employment positions at the four French sites between 2021 and 2025. The Group plans to attract new talent in Operations, such as production managers, machine operators, continuous improvement managers; Product Development staff, including engineers, data analysts; and Marketing personnel. Moreover, Sartorius will support its teams in helping them acquire new, cutting-edge skills, particularly in automation and digitalization of the equipment they use in their workflows.

“Sartorius is making a strong commitment with this investment and is bolstering its position as a leading partner of the biopharmaceutical industry and life science research in France,” said Olivier Guitard, Managing Director of Sartorius Stedim FMT and Head of Controlling of the Bioprocess Solutions Division at Sartorius.