The €1bn ($1.13bn) investment will be spread over five years, through to 2025, and builds on a previous pledge of investment to the site made in 2015.
With this pledge to further invest in its operation, reached with the input of the company’s Joint Works Council, the company commits to an ‘employment guarantee’, which secures both the location of the company’s headquarters for the short-term future and the 11,000 positions currently held at the space.
The company also stated that it would look at the construction of a membrane plant at the same location. The production of membranes would be used in the filtering process of biopharmaceuticals, amongst other uses.
In addition, Merck plans to construct a ‘Vocational and Advanced Training Center’ to train its future workforce.
“We believe in the tremendous potential of the Darmstadt site. There is no other Merck site in the world that has so much expertise combined at one location. With our investment commitment, we are permitting additional growth and are creating employment perspectives for tomorrow and beyond,” said Kai Beckmann, CEO of performance materials.
The commitment to buildout its headquarters comes shortly after it added a 162,00ft2 packaging centre to the site last year. During the opening ceremony, Stefan Oschmann, CEO of the company, stated that the packaging facility was built due to the focus on Darmstadt as the company’s manufacturing hub.
