Philip Morris International today announced an investment of approximately 500 million euros, for the expansion of the production capacity of the plant for smoke-free products in Crespellano (Bologna). The Crespellano plant is PMI's first for the large-scale production of HEETS, the tobacco sticks used with the IQOS electronic heating device.
Completed in September 2016, the plant currently employs over 600 people – who are part of the more than 1000 employed by the company also considering the Zola Predosa plants – highly qualified in sectors such as mechanics, electronics and chemistry. The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2018, and is part of the company's plans to reach a total annual installed capacity of approximately 100 billion sticks of heated tobacco by the end of 2018.
“Last week we announced the construction of our second 'greenfield' factory in Dresden (Germany). The expansion of the first plant in Crespellano (Bologna), shows the level of our current efforts to transform PMI's vision of a smoke-free future into reality in the shortest possible time,” said Frederic de Wilde, President of the European Union Region for SMEs.
Michele Cattoni, Vice President Technology & Operations for products with reduced risk potential, added: “The opening of the Bologna plant represents a historic milestone in PMI's effort to replace cigarettes with better alternatives, for the benefit of smokers, public health and society. We are now rapidly expanding our production capacity for smoke-free products to meet the growing demand from adult smokers."
IQOS and HEETS have been available to adult smokers in Italy since November 2014. IQOS is currently available in key cities in over 25 markets worldwide. More than two million people have already given up smoking to switch to IQOS.
The expansion of the Bologna plant follows the announcement, again in June, of the investment of about 320 millions of dollars for the HEETS production facility that PMI will build in Dresden, Germany, in addition to the conversion of its production plants in Greece, Romania and Russia.
IQOS is one of the four scientifically proven product platforms such as “smoke-free” which PMI is developing to meet the demand of adult smokers for better alternatives to cigarettes.
Since 2008, PMI has hired more than 400 scientists and experts and has invested more than $3 billion in research, development, and scientific validation of smoke-free products. The company openly shares its methodologies and scientific evidence for independent third-party review and verification, and has published its research findings in more than 200 articles and publications since 2011.
The scientific research results conducted by PMI to date indicate that IQOS can present a lower risk of harm for smokers who switch to these products, with respect to the persistence of smoking.
