Sartorius Formally Opens New Building For Membrane Manufacture

· A 25-million-euro investment in the expansion of manufacturing and R&D

Today on Friday, the Sartorius technology group formally opened a new manufacturing building at its headquarters in Goettingen, Germany, for the production of membranes. After approximately one year of construction, the new building was officially dedicated in the presence of Lower Saxony.s Prime Minister David McAllister, the Mayor of Goettingen Wolfgang Meyer and many guests.

Ranking among the world.s leading providers of laboratory and process equipment, the company invested some 25 million euros in extending its membrane production facility and in expanding laboratory capacity at its Goettingen site. With a floor space of 6,000 square meters, or nearly 65,000 square feet, the new building offers ample room to accommodate the new plant machinery for manufacturing polyethersulfone membranes as well as laboratories and offices for more than 120 employees.

"We have not only invested in increasing our capacity but, at the same time, have also further enhanced our manufacturing processes, making them more adaptable. This investment enables us to respond even faster and more flexibly to high demand and to maintain our quality leadership in pharmaceutical filtration,. said Joachim Kreuzburg, CEO and Executive Board Chairman of Sartorius.

Sartorius membranes are processed into specialty filters that are used to sterile-filter biopharmaceuticals or to recover active ingredients from liquids. Major customers for such membranes are companies in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, which employ these filters for the production of medications in a large number of purification steps.

Construction of the new membrane production facility in Goettingen is one of the three major building projects on the basis of which Sartorius is now expanding its capacity levels. To supply the North American market, the Sartorius Group is extending its site in Yauco, Puerto Rico. In the northern part of the Federal State of Hesse in Germany, a new manufacturing plant for bioreactors is being built in Guxhagen.

This press release contains statements about the future development of the Sartorius Group. The content of these statements cannot be guaranteed as they are based on assumptions and estimates that harbor certain risks and uncertainties.

This is a translation of the original German-language press release. Sartorius shall not assume any liability for the correctness of this translation. The original German press release is the legally binding version. Furthermore, Sartorius reserves the right not to be responsible for the topicality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information provided. Liability claims regarding damage caused by the use of any information provided, including any kind of information which is incomplete or incorrect, will therefore be rejected.

A Profile of Sartorius

The Sartorius Group is a leading international laboratory and process technology provider covering the segments of Bioprocess Solutions, Lab Products & Services and Industrial Weighing. In 2011, the technology group earned sales revenue of 733.1 million euros. Founded in 1870, the Goettingen-based company currently employs more than 5,000 persons. The major areas of activity of its Bioprocess Solutions segment cover filtration, fluid management, fermentation, cell cultivation and purification, and focus on production processes in the biopharmaceutical industry. The Lab Products & Services segment primarily manufactures laboratory instruments and consumables. Industrial Weighing concentrates on weighing, monitoring and control applications in the manufacturing processes of the food, chemical and pharma sectors. Sartorius has its own production facilities in Europe, Asia and America as well as sales subsidiaries and local commercial agencies in more than 110 countries.

SOURCE: Sartorius Stedim Biotech