Switzerland-based health device manufacturer medmix is opening in Flowery Branch, adding approximately 200+ new jobs.
The new location will be the company’s first expansion in the United States. medmix creates high-precision delivery devices for use by both consumer and industrial markets. They produce equipment used in drug delivery, surgery and dental offices. Specifically, they provide pen injectors and autoinjectors, as well as pharma packaging services.
medmix initially plans to invest $20 million to construct the 300,000-square-foot manufacturing site in stages over the next five to seven years. According to a press release, the company expects an excess of 200 jobs will be added to the market in Hall County.
“We hope to start production for a sellable product in January of 2024,” Site Lead James Kirk said. “We will be in the facility and starting to bring things online in October of this year, we have plans over a five-year period to add 200 to 250 jobs. We'll probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 50 by the end of 2023 to start production.”
Site Human Resources Manager Rhonda McLean said currently, they are looking to hire employees that are focused more on the technology side of things.
“The jobs that we're looking at right now are kind of more the technology group that we're looking to bring on the engineers, the quality team because obviously quality would be a key since it's medical devices,” McLean said. “And so we're actually actively recruiting for those right now.”
medmix doesn’t produce pharmaceutical drugs themselves, instead focusing more on the equipment used to deliver such drugs. They hope to be able to showcase some of their new designs and product delivery systems as their plant gets up and running over the next few years.
“The training and the opportunity to grow the technology base in Hall County and the Flowery Branch area to be able to work with Lanier Tech, to be able to work with the local high schools, we're excited to try to offer an apprentice-style program like they do in Europe — where our company was founded,” Kirk said. “We can start training people on molding and assembly of these medical devices.”
Officials report multiple reasons for the move to Hall County as the first U.S. location. First, they plan to utilize the easy highway access that runs up and down the East Coast. Along with that, being in Georgia gives them direct access to the Port of Savannah just a few hours away. Finally, they appreciate being close to one of the major airport hubs of the world in Atlanta.
“We know that there is some skilled labor in this area, we don't have to get people from all over the U.S.,” McLean said. “We can focus in Hall County and surrounding counties. There's a great workforce here. There's great resources available. I have worked for North Georgia workforce development, there's so many things that help us, the economic development, we're getting lots of support, not only from the local area but also from the state of Georgia.”
The Greater Hall County Chamber of Commerce also commented on their excitement for the added business and job opportunities.
“We are excited medmix chose Hall County and Georgia for its new medical device manufacturing and their U.S. headquarters for healthcare,” said Tim Evans, Vice President of Economic Development for the Chamber. “Lanier Technical College will be a key partner to support the company’s long-term workforce development needs for advanced manufacturing training and apprenticeships, and the company will be able to tap into the Life Sciences and Healthcare talent from other nearby schools. We are grateful to the medmix leadership and our partners at the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Georgia Power and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.”
