Navin Fluorine announces US$15m expansion at its facility in Dewas, India
Will increase capacity five-fold to sustain record sales growth in 2014
Navin Fluorine International (NFIL), one of India’s largest speciality fluorochemicals manufacturers, is to invest US$15m at its cGMP manufacturing site in Dewas, India, to significantly increase capacity to meet record levels of customer demand, following a milestone sales year in 2014 for both NFIL and its Manchester, UK-based subsidiary Manchester Organics.
The expansion will support all aspects of NFIL’s cGMP and non-cGMP manufacturing capabilities and will create what is believed to be the world's largest SF4 fluorination facility. NFIL already operates one of only a handful of cGMP-certified fluorination facilities in India and the new state-of-the-art plant will enable it to keep pace with rising global demand for fluorinated intermediates and building-blocks, both of which are used in the development of pharmaceutical and agrochemical intermediates.
The investment will see a five-fold capacity increase, creating one of the largest cGMP manufacturing sites in India and the only large-scale SF4 fluorination facility of its type in the world.
The investment in new capacity will be supported by an extension of the current research and development laboratories along with new warehousing.
The expanded facility will be able to offer continued support to customers as they move from later-stage development and into commercial production.
The facility is currently undergoing commissioning ahead of its official opening at the end of March.
'While there are still three months of our financial year remaining, we can say that 2014–15 has seen significant year-on-year growth in sales across both businesses and is likely to end up a significant growth year for NFIL and for Manchester Organics,' said NFIL's Managing Director Shekhar Khanolkar.
'The new plant gives us the flexibility to continue with our aggressive growth plans, while ensuring we maintain our high service levels to existing customers.'
He added: 'With a record number of new projects in our pilot plant as we start 2015, and the outlook for the rest of the year looking just as strong, it was important we made these investments now to safeguard our ability to both attract and successfully complete new, and often challenging, projects.'
