The facility, in Boleslawiec, can make a wide range of pharmaceutical vials - from injection to screw-neck vials - which leave the cleanroom only after shrink-wrapping ready for delivery. The 200 square metre unit has room for eight production lines including the related packaging equipment; in the start-up phase, four lines are in operation.
Polfa, which was acquired by Gerresheimer in 1997, makes glass, plastic and aluminium packaging and pharmaceutical systems. With the new unit, its capacity for making glass vials has risen from 50 million units in 2004 to a maximum of 150 million units a year, once the facility is running at full tilt, according to Beatrice Jacquet, Gerresheimer's vice president, tubular packaging Europe.
The cleanroom is currently operating at class D status, but has been designed to so that it can be easily upgraded to a class C unit - with a maximum particle burden of 10,000 per cubic metre of air. Normal air contains on average around one million particles.
An additional 24 jobs will be created at the plant to allow continuous shift operations, added the company.
Polfa's structure is based on the two branches of the Gerresheimer pharmaceutical business: the glassPackaging division produces pharmaceutical vials, ampoules and cartridges, while the pharmaSystems division specialises, alongside Bunder Glas, in pharmaceutical dosage and application systems as well as diagnostic laboratoryware.