July 2022 marked a milestone for Ansell as its newest plant became operational, supplying the world’s fast-growing Surgical and Life Sciences market. This new plant in India contributes to Ansell’s production capabilities, especially in emerging markets and strengthens our global multi-sourcing strategies.
1 December 2022 Located in Tamil Nadu, in southern India, Ansell's newest and most significant greenfield project represents a roughly US$80m investment. A greenfield project represents an investment in which a new customised operations facility is built from the ground up rather than adapting or adding to an existing facility.
While production primarily focuses on manufacturing surgical and life sciences products, this facility is designed with significant future expansion capability to accommodate a wide range of Ansell products, such as our examination glove line, and supporting our differentiated growth strategy in the coming years.
When completed in 2024, Ansell Kovai will occupy a 70,734 square meter area, encompassing a 43,000 sq. mt. manufacturing plant, compounding facility, dipping hall, post-processing building, warehouse, packaging facility, administrative block, canteen, biomass hot water generators, and an industrial gamma irradiator.
Completing this plant will set a new benchmark for Ansell's sustainable manufacturing. When the site is fully operational, this facility will mark a glove-industry milestone by operating with zero liquid discharge, meaning that all wastewater is fully recycled and re-used in production. In addition, all the Kovai buildings are designed according to criteria established by the Indian Green Building Council in 2001 to support India's aim to become a global leader in sustainably-built environments by 2025. A 'sustainably built' environment is designed for longevity, flexibility, adaptability, re-use and recoverability, and considers future climate risks.
Construction materials for the Kovai plant incorporate low-carbon, low-impact, non-toxic and re-purposed materials. Ansell has made a commitment to shift away from fossil-fuel based energy sources at our plants to renewable energy. As a result, the new plant design minimises water and energy use and maximises renewable energy sources, including sustainably-sourced biomass for thermal energy and solar photovoltaic panels as we move toward our goal of one hundred percent renewable energy use at this site.
Kovai staff will approach 1,800 employees, with most employees hired from the local area plus room for additional future headcount. We are committed to establishing and achieving gender balance targets from the outset throughout all levels of leadership.
CEO Neil Salmon said, “We look forward to leveraging the opportunity to build our greenfield foundation so that we maintain business continuity whilst creating and sustaining best industry practices from a people perspective. This approach creates an exciting opportunity to onboard an engaged workforce while creating new jobs and, thus, a positive economic impact in the area. These new colleagues will join our already considerable Commercial team in India, building diversity and adding new skills and innovative ideas to drive our business forward, meeting the needs of our global customers.”
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