Recruiting the Future SUBMITTED BY RICK CHAMBERS
A Bioscience Giant with Michigan Roots on Growing the Workforce
Forgive Ron Perry for being guarded when a stranger recently approached him at a gas station. Newly arrived in Michigan, Perry spent years working in East Coast towns where, let’s say such an approach would have been suspicious. As it turned out, the man was a local doctor who admired Perry’s car. They’ve since forged a strong friendship. Perry, a Michigan State University alum who recently became the site leader for Pfizer Inc.’s manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo County, says that experience illustrates a key element in attracting life science employees to Michigan. “The culture here is relational. That has a positive, tangible effect on people,” Perry says. “An attractive culture and environment are significant drivers to recruiting today’s workers.” Recruiting is high on Perry’s to-do list as Pfizer grows its U.S. biopharmaceutical manufacturing
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MICHBIO | michbio.org
presence to the tune of $5 billion, including a half-billion-dollar expansion in Michigan.
Trajectory for Growth Headquartered in New York City, Pfizer’s legacy has deep Michigan roots through acquisitions of ParkeDavis and The Upjohn Company. The company’s footprint here changed over the years. In Rochester it operates a sterile injectable facility with about 100 people. Portage is home to Pfizer’s largest production site, which produces sterile injectable, liquid and semi-solid medicines, and active pharmaceutical ingredients for 113 international markets. It employs over 2,300 people. That number will grow. In July, Pfizer announced plans to invest $465 million to build in Portage a new, class-leading sterile injectable pharmaceutical production facility. Expected to be completed in 2021, this facility will incorporate the most technically advanced aseptic manufacturing
