Roche Diabetes Care pumping $60M into Ponce plant
Miguel Centeno, general manager Roche Operations Ltd. in Ponce, leads Gov. García-Padilla and other government officials during a tour of the Ponce plant.
Roche Diabetes Care and Puerto Rico government officials announced Tuesday the expansion of the Roche Operations Ltd. manufacturing facility in Ponce, where the company will invest $60 million over the next two years.
The project involves the implementation of new latest technologies and innovative production standards for the manufacturing of Roche Diabetes Care’s next generation of blood glucose test strips. The expansion is projected to create more than 40 new jobs including process engineers, operators, technicians and other skilled workers over a five-year period, officials said.
“With this investment Roche opens its doors to the European market through an increase in its production capacity and the possibility of developing more specialized products the field of diabetes,” said Gov. Alejandro García-Padilla during a visit to the plant.
With this expansion project, the drugmaker will prepare the production scale-up for the next generation of blood glucose test strips – the Accu-Chek Guide, the company said.
These will use latest technology to offer innovative and easy to handle solutions for an optimal diabetes management that exceed the ISO accuracy criteria for blood glucose monitoring to customers in European and other markets worldwide.
The manufacturing site in Ponce has a successful history in the manufacturing of blood glucose monitoring supplies. The site is celebrating its 45th year of operation in 2016 with some 200 people working at the Ponce production facility.
“The significant investment in the Ponce facility underline the importance this key site has in Roche Diabetes Care’s global operations activities,” said Miguel Centeno, general manager Roche Operations Ltd. in Ponce.
“Moreover, the expansion will support our company vision of helping people with diabetes everywhere in the world to think less about their daily diabetes routine and offer them true relief,” he said.
“Puerto Rico’s highly skilled workforce has substantially contributed to our existing operation and success and will certainly continue to play an important role in our company’s future growth,” Centeno added.
