Pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson has opened its newly refurbished R300-million manufacturing plant in Cape Town.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, area MD for Johnson & Johnson in sub-Saharan Africa, Makis Kosmatos, said they have ambitious plans to grow the business both within South Africa and in the key markets within Sub-Sahara Africa.
“We are confident that we will realise our ambition of tripling our business within the next five to seven years,” Kosmatos said.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Rob Davies, was on site to officially open the new plant.
Davies said Johnson & Johnson had showed significant confidence in the country by increasing its investment for the next three years, therefore making South Africa an attractive investment.
Johnson & Johnson’s Cape Town site leader, Alex Granados said the plant currently employed more than 130 people and would, over the next few years, double the number of jobs by creating more opportunities for people in the pharmaceutical sector.
“We have now created a footprint where we can double our current headcount of 130 in the next five years and our current production capacity,” Granados said.
The Cape Town manufacturing facility houses tablet manufacturing, liquids, creams, suppository and ointment manufacture, sachet filling, packaging operations and warehousing.
Products produced onsite are supplied to the local market as well as exported to sub-Saharan Africa and Australia.