DuPont invests $10 million to upgrade Wisconsin probiotic facility
“Given the explosive rise in demand for probiotics products all around the globe, this project allows us to aggressively pursue our goal to be the No. 1 probiotics supplier in the world,” said DuPont Nutrition & Health President Matthias Heinzel. Euromonitor estimated the global probiotic market’s value at €40bn in 2016, or US$47 billion.
“These expansion efforts show our commitment to becoming bigger and stronger with our capability to meet demand, and our facilities, and qualified staff to handle the significant growth we foresee in this sector.”
Construction on the pilot area, which was completed over the last six months, will help the company improve overall scale-up capability and a more seamless transition to commercial scale production.
Though square footage was not disclosed, the company said that these upgrades “quadrupled the pilot area.” It will add state-of-the-art equipment, data collection, laboratories, instrumentation, and specialized work space for probiotic development and scale up.
“With all the enhancements, we are better able to meet customer demand for new probiotics at a much faster pace,” said Kurt Fenster, BioProcess Development group manager, Culture Manufacturing Technology at DuPont Nutrition & Health. “Moving forward, we expect to substantially increase our speed to deliver products to customers.”
Expanding its Midwestern facility in Wisconsin was part of a bigger effort for the giant ingredient supplier to push further into the probiotics space.
Back in 2016, DuPont announced that it would expand its US probiotics production capacity through a $100 million, multiphase plan. Earlier this summer, the company expanded its operations in Rochester, NY, creating 48 new jobs.
