SHL hires 600 new employees

In response to increased customer orders and the signing of long-term contracts, SHL has hired more than 600 new employees over a 14 month period. SHL, the world’s largest privately owned designer, developer and manufacturer of drug delivery devices, now has over 2,000 employees worldwide with the majority of new staff located at the manufacturing facilities in Taiwan. Additional employees have also been hired at the company’s final assembly facility in Florida, US (SHL Pharma) and the company’s main design centre in Stockholm, Sweden (SHL Group AB).

CEO Roger Samuelsson commented on surpassing the milestone of 2,000 employees, "When I came to Asia in the early eighties I wanted to do something special. I knew that this region had the manufacturing infrastructure that a global company could be built on. Then it came down to attracting the right talent and focusing on some key areas of business. As an engineer I talk a lot about my love of machines, but people make great products a reality. Each year we launch new devices and continue to expand our facilities. I’m proud of that. Now we can see that establishing apprentice programs and partnering with local universities to train new staff is increasingly important. Of course, recruiting global talent to come work in Asia has also been a proven strategy for the company."

Market research has shown that there is little chance of a slowdown in the launch of new biologics and this in turn has been a significant driver of the increased use and acceptance of devices such as auto injectors and pen injectors. Steven Kaufman, SHL marketing director, explained, "In the early days few people had ever heard of the word auto injector, but now it is one of the hottest buzz words in the biopharmaceutical industry. There is a need for devices that help patients to take new biologics because most of these patients have no experience taking injectable medications. These pen-like devices support end-users in overcoming their fear of injections, help prevent needle stick injury and make self-injection itself simpler. And increasing patient compliance by providing intuitive combination products is win-win across the board."

SHL will continue to focus on the expansion of all its manufacturing facilities in Taiwan, especially its new campus near the international airport. In addition, the company will continue to strengthen the range of services it offers to biopharmaceutical companies by also offering final assembly, labelling and packaging of auto injectors at SHL Pharma in the US.