Germany’s Groninger family has been making filling and closing machines used to produce pharmaceutical and consumer products since 1980. They moved their North American sales and service operation from New Jersey to Charlotte in 2007, drawn by a strong business climate and strategic location near many expanding drug manufacturers.
Now, the business is making plans to boost manufacturing with a $15 million expansion in Charlotte. The company plans to expand its current site and increase its workforce from 112 to 172 full-time employees over the next five years. The new positions will pay an average of $76,037, according to a release from the city of Charlotte.
Groninger may employ as many as 200 people by 2030, according to USA CEO Philip Hauser. The effort is supported by the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, which plan to release details of incentives in the near future, a city spokesman said.
The company based in Crailsheim, Germany, plans a groundbreaking in June with the site to be fully operational in mid-2026, Hauser says.
Strong customer demand is prompting the company to expand in the U.S. after 45 years of production in Schnelldorf, Germany, which is the center of the European nation’s machine-tool industry.
“We will bring some German experts to learn with our new people to assure this knowledge transfer is at the highest level,” Hauser says. “We want to be local and build locally for local markets. I’m glad our ownership wants to invest in the North American markets.”
He noted that Charlotte “provides seamless connections to our customers and our parent company in Germany. Its thriving German community and strong workforce, as well as the invaluable partnerships we’ve developed here, make Charlotte an exceptional place for our headquarters.”
Horst Groninger formed the company after the invention of the rotary piston pump, which allowed manufacturers to process cosmetic and pharmaceutical preparations more precisely. The company opened its U.S. operations in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, in 1997 and relocated to Charlotte in 2007.
The company, which prefers to use lower-case as its formal name is now led by Horst Groninger’s sons, Jens and Volker.
The company’s 27,500-square-foot facility opened in 2012 in southwest Charlotte, about 14 miles from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The Charlotte location handles sales, service and parts manufacturing for groninger customers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.