SCHOTT, the inventor of specialty glass and international technology group, is structuring its presence in North America to align operations with its most robust sales market and accelerate global profitability.
SCHOTT’s Pharmaceutical Systems business unit in Lebanon, Pa., USA, contributed to the global COVID-19 response, increasing manufacturing capacity to serve the needs of vaccine makers. In addition, the Pennsylvania plant supplies the growing demand of high-value products such as adaptiQ® ready-to-use vials and EVERIC® pure for highly potent drugs like cancer medication. As part of a multimillion-dollar investment in the U.S. this past fiscal year, the facility saw upgrades and expanded capacity for vial production.
Supplementing the company’s contribution to the health industry, SCHOTT MINIFAB’s acquisition of Applied Microarrays Inc. (AMI) adds cutting-edge biotech capabilities for diagnostics applications along with a production hub in Arizona. Also through acquisition, SCHOTT’s Lighting and Imaging business unit in Southbridge, Mass., expanded its portfolio of fibre-optic imaging technologies by acquiring INCOM’s MEGAdraw business.
As SCHOTT manages its strategic portfolio within the U.S. home appliance market, it sold its flat-glass entity Gemtron, to SSW Advanced Technologies. SCHOTT will focus its home appliance activities in North America on specialty glass materials like CERAN® glass-ceramic cook-tops, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and sold its 200th millionth cook-top panel. A new post-processing line for CERAN is in the works for SCHOTT’s Vincennes, In. facility.
“Our flexibility and commitment to a strategy of innovation will only strengthen our U.S. operations moving forward. With seven production sites, one R&D centre, a sales office, and roughly 1,000 employees in the U.S., SCHOTT is well established,” said Dr. Heinz Kaiser, board member at SCHOTT and responsible for the group’s business in North America. “Over the past several years, we have invested $60 million in the U.S., and additional investments will accelerate our strategy of profitable growth and allow us to concentrate our activities on markets where we expect strong, sustainable development.”
