Sigma-Aldrich Enhances Asia-Pacific Customer Support With New Distribution and Packaging Capabilities in India

ST. LOUIS, March 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (Nasdaq: SIAL) recently completed a 57,000-square-foot expansion of its Bangalore, India, campus. The expansion, which includes an expanded distribution center and new packaging facility, enhances the Company's distribution capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, increasing operational excellence in one of the industry's key markets. The new additions complement existing R&D, custom synthesis and manufacturing infrastructure and expand a localized approach to better support customers in India as well as the Asia-Pacific region.

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"Sigma-Aldrich has built a strong foundation, achieving consistent double-digit sales growth driven by our first mover advantage, our approach in providing excellent service, our investments and our high standards for operation. A key focus in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions has been to accelerate localization to continue to drive further growth," said Eric Green, Vice President and Managing Director, International at Sigma-Aldrich. 

This latest expansion enables Sigma-Aldrich to provide turnkey services at the Bangalore site - improving service levels for customers in the region. The new addition features approximately 49,000 square feet of distribution space and 8,000 square feet of packaging space.  The existing 10-acre campus will continue to house the administrative offices; sales; marketing and distribution functions; and manufacturing.

Sigma-Aldrich President and Chief Executive Officer Rakesh Sachdev was joined by approximately 100 invited guests from across the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and CRO industries, government research institutes and academia to open the facility by "lighting the lamp," an Indian tradition.

"India is a key location for us, where we engage in the entire spectrum of activity including manufacturing, R & D, packaging and distribution. The country has huge potential and we plan to continue our focus in this important market," said Sachdev. "We currently have small scale manufacturing in India. Based on customer input, we are evaluating further expansion programs that could include larger scale manufacturing in the future."  

Sigma-Aldrich has an aggressive growth strategy for the Asia-Pacific region, particularly India and China. The Company's latest investment in the Bangalore facility is consistent with its strategy of expanding products and services, driving operational excellence and focusing on the needs of its customers. It has operated in Bangalore since 1991 and has been at its current location since 2006. 

Cautionary Statement: The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "will further enable," "will continue,"  "will be" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future outcomes from the facility derived therefrom. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that this facility will assist the Company to achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding the facility could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Sigma-Aldrich:  Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company whose biochemical, organic chemical products, kits and services are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostics and high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich customers include more than 1.3 million scientists and technologists in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals and industry. The Company operates in 40 countries and has nearly 9,000 employees whose objective is to provide excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to accelerating customer success through innovation and leadership in Life Science and High Technology.  For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its website at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com/.

Sigma-Aldrich and Sigma are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC registered in the US and other countries.  

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich Corporation