Merck Life Science world’s first climate neutral manufacturing facility in Cork
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What is the significance of Merck's climate neutral manufacturing facility in Cork?
Breakfast Business with Enterprise Ireland on Newstalk. Merck has been active in Ireland for decades, making products for hospital environments as well as the life sciences. Now Merck Group, which is headquartered in Germany and not to be confused with the American company of the same name, says that it will be creating the world's first climate neutral manufacturing facility in Cork. It comes as all international pharma giants are being pressured to move their plants to America to avoid tariffs. Mark Dunphy is the Managing Director and Head of Cork Operations with Merck Life Sciences Ireland and is on the line. Good morning, Mark.
Good morning, Joe. Thanks for having us on.
How does Merck Group differentiate itself from the American company of the same name?
Mark, tell us more about Merck Group, which is one of the oldest companies in the world.
For sure, yeah. So we're a German multinational group, Joe. We're a science and technology. We're headquartered, as you said, in Germany in Darmstadt, which is approximately 20 minutes out of Frankfurt. Globally, we're more than 60,000 employees and we have presence in over 66 countries. We're a very diverse business, three sectors covering life science, healthcare and electronics. And as you said, yeah, one of the oldest, we're 357 years old, yeah.
And how many people do you employ in Ireland?
In Ireland, we're approximately 1,000 people across life science, healthcare and electronics. But the largest presence will be in our life science in Ireland, which is down in Cork.
And just to clarify, there's no link with Merck, Sharp and Dome or MSD?
No link, no, exactly. So we're Merck in Ireland, yes. Absolutely.
Now, you make tiny but very important filters for epidural injections. My wife is certainly a fan.
For sure. Yeah, so in Cork, so we've two sites, right? We've Carrick Tool, East Cork, and the announcement in 2022, a major new investment of about $150 million. We opened that site two weeks ago. But in Cork, we produce advanced membranes and filtration devices. They're used in the pharmaceutical industry. We manufacture for life-saving therapies, including vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and gene therapies. But you're right, we also manufacture medical devices, vaccines, And within the medical device, the filtration system, it removes harmful bacteria and viruses from medications. And yet one application of a medical device is an epidural. You're dead right. Yes.
And so you put a tiny little device in the drip before it's injected into the spine. Is that it?
What types of products does Merck manufacture in Ireland?
Correct. Yeah. So it would go and the filter would go before the actual syringe. It's one of many applications of one of our membrane or one of our devices where our membrane is used. And that product is manufactured in a carry tool facility.
And you need for that, of course, a super clean room environment. And now you're creating this new climate neutral manufacturing facility in Cork. Tell us more about that.
Correct. So the investment in Balarni, it's about 150 million euros. So it's part of our overall 450 million investment in Cork, which is the largest ever. Single site investment with Merck Life Science. So it enables the expansion of capacity for critical filtration technologies and it'll supply the entire biopharma industry, especially those that support production of the monoclonal antibodies, as I said already, vaccines and some of the advanced therapies. But to your point, for sure, yeah, it's 100% powered by renewable electricity. climate neutrality built into our operations through renewable energy, heat recovery and advanced water recycling. We're proud to say it's Merck's first manufacturing site designed for climate neutrality.
Okay. Any issues with connecting to either the ESB or the water facilities down there? Because we all know by the infrastructure issues that we have in Ireland.
Sure. No, for sure there are challenges, but I think our work with the IDA and EPA and ESB has been super. So no real challenges at all. Proud to say we did open two weeks ago and we're in production manufactured since last week. So no real issues. Approximately,
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