Friday, November 20, 2009
An expanding animal medicine company in St. Joseph means good things for the workers.
On a press tour of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.'s factories Thursday, the company made its intentions known that it plans on broadening its scope from not only cattle and swine medication, but pet treatments as well.
In late October, Boehringer Ingelheim announced it had closed a deal with medication company Pfizer to acquire a significant portion of the company's Fort Dodge, Iowa, animal research facilities.
The acquisition added numerous medications to Boehringer's line of products, including the Duramine line of dog vaccines, the Fel-O-Vax line of cat vaccines and cattle vaccines, including Triangle, Pyramid and Presponse.
"The merger gave us now a wider portfolio and so, with a portfolio, it adds potential for greater facilities," Dr. Ed Robb, vice president of research and development for Boehringer Ingleheim, said.
Of those greater facilities, included is a $130 million project to build an onsite centralized office building at its St. Joseph plant. The facility will expand the manufacturing plant and broaden its research and development activities. It is expected to create 124 new jobs and maintain 551 existing positions.
The Missouri Development Finance Board approved more than $2 million in special state bonds Tuesday for the project.
Integrating all of the products and projects together will be a task, Mr. Robb said. But it's those necessary trials and errors that will build growth.
"Delivering value and innovation really means that we're going to miss a lot," he said. "Innovation means taking risks."
The diversity of products and research between the St. Joseph plant and the Fort Dodge facility serves as greater security for the future of the company.
"They really service for different businesses. Fort Dodge is driven more towards pets, and the plant here is driven more towards global and food animals," he said. "It broadens the base ... It's a bigger economic buffer."
Andrew Gaug can be reached at andrewgaug@npgco.com
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RJW says...
A great company bringing the right kind of jobs to St. Joseph. Awesome!
November 20, 2009 at 6:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mm1967 says...
Some good news for St Joseph.We need more like this and soon.
November 20, 2009 at 7:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
heritage_sarahhochschwender says...
BIV is a driving force in the economy, and st joseph is positioned well to remain competitive in the animal health corridor.
November 20, 2009 at 7:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LibertyOrDeath says...
^^^You see what I'm saying about the standard political tone to everything? That is NOT how you would have worded a similar comment a year ago, before council ambitions.
November 20, 2009 at 7:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suzyQ says...
Definitely good news. Great to see a company bringing jobs to St. Joseph instead of outsourcing things to Kansas City unlike the other big employer in town.
Way to go Boehringer! Thanks.
November 20, 2009 at 8:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dillygent1 says...
I appreciated reading this article and I hope, if there is a model, that Boehringer shares it with other businesses in St. Joseph. I would like to know one thing, however. How come, when I needed some medicine for my dog that was manufactured by Boehringer-Ingelheim VetMedica, did I have to buy it from Canada because it cost twice as much in the United States as it did buying it from Canada?
November 20, 2009 at 9:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )