GSK Consumer Healthcare to close Ermington manufacturing site in 2020

Today GSK Consumer Healthcare announced that it will close its manufacturing facility at Ermington, in Sydney’s north-west, in 2020. The decision was made after a thorough evaluation of the site, which revealed the manufacturing site would not be able to remain competitive in the long-term.

Michael Tyler, VP - Asia Middle East and Africa Supply Chain said: “We have a loyal and committed workforce in Ermington who have a long history of manufacturing high quality over-the-counter healthcare products for Australian consumers.  We have thoroughly evaluated a number of options before taking the decision to close the site, but unfortunately significant ongoing investment would be needed to maintain our Ermington manufacturing facility, making it uncompetitive to keep manufacturing in Ermington in the future. This will be a phased closure over the next four years as production is gradually transferred to a combination of other GSK manufacturing sites in our network and third-party contract manufacturers.”

Approximately 223 jobs in Ermington will become redundant when manufacturing ceases in four years.

Support for Employees

All manufacturing employees’ benefits will be provided in line with current agreements. During the next four years, GSK will work with affected employees on support arrangements and provide clarity about the closure process.

“We know this announcement is very difficult, especially for our employees,” said Mr Tyler.  “I started my GSK career in Ermington and I have worked alongside many of our employees at the site.  Providing support to those in our team whose roles will be affected is a priority during this four-year transition period.

“As always, we will treat employees fairly and do everything we can to support our employees through this period of change. Where redeployment is not an option, we will provide outplacement support to help our employees find work outside of GSK and will provide redundancy packages when the time comes for our employees to leave the business,” he added.

GSK in Australia

Our goal is to ensure the continued supply of quality, cost-competitive products to our consumers in Australia and New Zealand.  The significant investment required in the site in the future would prevent us from being able to supply our products at the right cost for our consumers in the long-term.  We do not anticipate any impact on the availability/supply of products that are manufactured at Ermington and will be working hard to ensure continuity of supply for our consumers.

The decision to close our Ermington manufacturing site does not affect other parts of the GSK business in Australia.  Our manufacturing site in Boronia, Victoria, where respiratory products are manufactured, is not affected by this decision. 

The nature of the business, the products manufactured and the technology used at our Boronia manufacturing site are different to those at Ermington.  The advances we’ve made on site in recent years have allowed us to establish a centre of excellence for Blow-Fill-Seal technology, used in the manufacture of respiratory products.

This decision may result in office relocation for our Consumer Healthcare commercial employees based in Ermington (NSW) in due course.

Decision follows comprehensive review process

A number of business scenarios were assessed during the review of the Ermington site.

While our Ermington manufacturing facility has recently been upgraded, significant ongoing investment would be required over the longer term due to the age of the facility.  This means GSK will not be able to maintain a competitive cost of manufacturing at the Ermington site in the future. 

GSK thoroughly evaluated a number of alternative options for the Ermington site before reaching a final decision to close the site.  Unfortunately, none of the other alternatives were realistic or sustainable options.

Enquiries:

Additional notes

GlaxoSmithKline - is a global research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare company. Since 1886 we have delivered the highest quality medicines, vaccines and over-the-counter healthcare products to Australians. For further information please visit www.au.gsk.com