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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Ireland-Based Sharp Expands Pennsylvania Operations

04/15/2021
Sharp, part of Ireland-based UDG Healthcare and a global leader in advanced clinical supply chain services and contract pharmaceutical packaging, will expand operations at existing facilities in Allentown and Conshohocken and into a third facility in Macungie Borough, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The company will retain 1,092 current positions and create 335 new jobs over the next three years.

Sharp will increase its manufacturing capacity by upgrading and partially re-purposing some of its four-facility Allentown campus, upgrade and obtain new machinery and equipment for its two-facility Conshohocken site, and carry out building improvements and obtain new machinery and equipment at its recently acquired 170,000 sq. ft. facility in Macungie Borough.

“Sharp has a long history and a proven commitment to the Lehigh Valley area and to our site in Conshohocken and as this investment demonstrates, we will continue to offer career opportunities and skills training within our local communities, as our employees deliver vital packaging services for our pharmaceutical clients,” said Sharp President Kevin Orfan.

As an incentive, Sharp received a funding proposal from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for a $140,400 workforce development grant through the WEDnet program to help the company train workers, a $1.25 million Pennsylvania First grant, and $670,000 in Job Creation Tax Credits (JCTC) to be distributed upon the creation of new jobs. The company has committed to investing $42.9 million into the project.

“My administration is thrilled to support Sharp, whose history in the Lehigh Valley is established and dates back decades, as it continues to expand and grow its teams and capabilities in the commonwealth,” said Governor Tom Wolf. “This expansion is a testament to the strength of Pennsylvania’s manufacturing sector and will bring new jobs and opportunities, at a critical time in pandemic recovery, to all three facilities and their communities.”

Sharp, which is part of UDG Healthcare plc, has an international footprint with facilities in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands and has been delivering safe, high-quality, contract packaging services to the world’s biggest healthcare brands for more than 65 years. The organization has state-of-the-art facilities in the United States, United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands and over 32 clinical depots globally, covering every region of the world.

“In the last two or three years, they’ve probably been the fastest-growing unknown company in the Lehigh Valley,” said Don Cunningham, president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation.

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