JLM Pharmatech in Seymour has new equipment, an expanded facility and soon will have a new name, but the good news doesn’t stop there.
Continued growth is expected throughout the rest of this year and beyond, company officials said Tuesday.
As of next week, the Seymour plant at 2223 Killion Ave. will be known as PD Pharmatech.
In 2011, Particle Dynamics Holdings of St. Louis quietly purchased JLM Pharmatech, a small locally owned pharmaceutical packaging and supply company. PD Holdings was founded in 2010 to develop and globally market special-ingredient product lines for the pharmaceutical industry and other markets.
Since buying JLM, the new owners have invested nearly $10 million in state-of-the-art equipment at the Eastside Industrial Park plant, including a 10-story-tall spray dryer. The specialty equipment is used to produce a dry powder ingredient from liquid by rapidly drying it with hot gas.
The equipment allows the company to transfer all production of its spray-dried products to Seymour instead of coming from a third-party manufacturer in Minnesota, said Jeff Dorries, PD Holdings’ chief financial officer.
“Essentially, over half of what we sold was produced by someone else,” Dorries said Tuesday after joining CEO Paul Brady in giving local and state dignitaries a tour of the facility to show off the new equipment.
The company conducted a special commissioning luncheon beforehand, inviting employees, local economic development officials and others to celebrate the completion of the investment and the beginning of production.
“There has been an incredible amount of work that has gone in since I sat down with the board and suggested that not only was there this company in Seymour, Indiana, that could be interesting to buy. It was one of those opportunities where we said not only could we invest in it, but I also think we could build a big spray dryer there,” Brady said.
In January 2012, the company began designing the project and broke ground in June of that year.
Due to heavy rains during the spring, the project was delayed some so that the ground could dry out for construction, Brady said.
“We began wet, and we’re ending wet,” he said as rain fell Tuesday.
Two years after it started, the project is finished, and initial production of spray-dried products began this summer.
The company’s best-selling products are calcium carbonate, used to make antacids and osteoporosis medication, and magnesium carbonate, which is used in treating patients with kidney failure, among other uses.
“We have made five commercial batches, which I think is great,” Brady said of using the spray-dried process. “Our goal is to eventually get to 7 (million) to 8 million pounds a year. That’s a boatload of product coming in and an incredible amount of product going out.”
Mayor Craig Luedeman said he is thankful for Particle Dynamics’ interest and investment in Seymour and the economic development it represents. He pointed out that since the company acquired JLM Pharmatech, it has tripled its Seymour workforce.
Last year, the Seymour plant had 16 employees. Now, it boasts 54 workers, Brady said.
That growth will continue as Particle Dynamics begins another project later this month to expand and upgrade the facility.
“This will represent another $2 million investment that also will increase their capacity and quality,” Luedeman said.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Dorries said plans include rebuilding JLM’s existing process of producing polysaccharide iron complex, an active ingredient in iron supplements, also known as PIC.
One of JLM’s major customers of PIC is Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals in Seymour, he added.
“We’re going to be swapping out all of the equipment and putting state-
of-the-art production technology that will help build capacity,” he said.