When it comes to procuring the films to be used in the blister packs at its Chinese production plant, it’s to Perlen Packaging that Boehringer Ingelheim turns. «We have to be able to count on consistent GMP product quality from our business partners if we’re to meet the rising demand for medicines in the Chinese market,» explains Ajan Van der Oort, CFO of Boehringer Ingelheim China, Hong Kong & Taiwan. 

Van der Oort is delighted that Perlen Packaging is now establishing its own Asian regional production facility. The greater product availability and faster transport times will both enhance flexibility, which is a key success factor given today’s ever-shorter business cycles.

An early focus on Asia

Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world’s top 20 pharmaceuticals corporations, with a total global workforce of some 47,500 personnel. The research-oriented family concern puts a strong emphasis on prescription medicines, self-medication products, animal health and the contract production of biopharmaceutical agents. 

The company also put an early business focus on Asia, founding a branch operation in Japan back in 1961. It arrived in China in 1994, and has invested over EUR 80 million in expanding its Shanghai prescription medicine production and packaging plant in the last few years. Its Chinese operation produced some 80 million packagings for tablets, capsules and ampoules in 2016. And the globally-active corporation generated EUR 3.7 billion – about a quarter of its total sales – from its Asia/Australia/Africa region in 2015, and maintains production facilities in Japan, China and Indonesia.