City and local economic officials in Seymour, Indiana hope Monday’s announcement of expansion by Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals is a sign of good things to come in 2013.
“It’s a good way to start the year,” Jim Plump, executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation, said of the company’s planned $22 million investment to add manufacturing space at its facility in Freeman Field Industrial Park.
That space is needed as a result of a shift in the company’s focus from producing branded products to generic medications, Kremers controller Tom Lewis said.
Kremers, a subsidiary of Belgium-based UCB, will hire 20 new employees bringing its local workforce to nearly 500, Lewis said.
Kremers is the third-largest industrial employer in the county.
“Obviously Kremers has great talent and management at its location here and continues to attract the talent that they need,” Plump said. “They have a varied range of positions and provide excellent employment opportunities for hourly workers and those specialized positions with degrees. That diversity brings a lot to our local economy.”
With several patents expiring on branded medications, Lewis said the company is dedicating its resources to putting new generic versions on the market.
“We are in the process of developing those,” he said. “Most of them will be released next year and some even the year after that.”
Lewis said the lack of new generic medications available to consumers has left the door wide open for Kremers to expand.
“There’s not a lot of new innovative products out on the market right now, he said. “Products that are enticing to us are those that have a large market demand and that are harder for other companies to manufacture.
The Seymour Common Council approved the company’s request for 10-year tax abatement for $14 million in new manufacturing equipment, $400,000 in R&D equipment and $30,000 in logistics and distribution equipment. The company plans to spend another $475,000 in information technology, which the council approved for 5-year abatement.
Source: The Tribune, 1/30/13