Plastic packaging maker Berry Global Group Inc. expects to open a new health-care-centric manufacturing plant in India early this year.
The project in Bangalore involves both manufacturing as well as research and development space that ultimately is projected to employ more than 500 workers over the next eight years.
Evansville, Ind.-based Berry first revealed plans for the facility in 2021 and is now updating construction progress.
Manufacturing will include products serving the inhalation, nasal, ophthalmic, dispensing and self-injecting segments, the company said.
"Improved drug affordability and greater access to modern health care solutions are more important than ever in India, one of the most populated countries in the world," said Jean-Marc Galvez, president of Berry's Consumer Packaging International division, in a statement. "Our new facility and R&D center will benefit the domestic economy by creating new jobs and the regional economy overall by improving health care access and providing locally manufactured products."
Berry located the new facility, which could open as early as April, near generic pharmaceutical companies. While providing packaging for that part of the world, the company also looking at other markets as well.
"The Bangalore site's ability to cater pharmaceutical packaging to U.S. regulatory requirements will enable the local manufacture of health care products, at a global scale," Berry said.
The Bangalore facility will use solar and wind power to meet about 90 percent of the site's electricity needs, Berry said.
The new location becomes Berry's second facility in Bangalore and is one of more than 260 company sites around the world.
"Health care companies have limited access to regional expertise and global capabilities needed to provide patient populations in Asia with modern health care solutions at scale," Berry CEO Tom Salmon said in a statement. "Our new facility and global health care center of excellence in Bangalore will support Asia's growing demand for health care products, create new jobs, and, most importantly, benefit the lives of patient populations who have historically gone untreated and underdiagnosed."