Zoetis to add capacity, jobs to Kalamazoo plant

KALAMAZOO – Zoetis Inc. plans to expand production capacity in Kalamazoo and increase employment over the next few years.

The Parsippany, N.J.-based Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) will add two productions lines for oral tablet and chewable medicines for pets at its Kilgore Road plant. The expansion will add 45 jobs in the Kalamazoo area, where Zoetis employs nearly 300 people in production positions, plus another 700 at its Veterinary Medicine Research and Development headquarters.

“Kalamazoo is home to one of the largest and most important manufacturing sites in Zoetis’ Global Manufacturing and Supply network,” said Matthew Everhart, vice president for pharmaceutical and aseptic operations. “Locating manufacturing here gives us continued access to a highly skilled and diverse workforce which is essential to managing a global animal health company. Our people provide our veterinarian and livestock farmer customers with a reliable supply of high quality medicines for their animals and are an integral part of the community here.”

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. provided Zoetis a $500,000 business development grant for the project.

Plant renovations should begin this month. Zoetis targets completion for early 2019.