2000 new jobs
Pharmaceutical company Vetter takes over Ford site in Saarlouis
06.06.2024, 15:29
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In November 2025, the car manufacturer Ford will cease production in Saarlouis. For months it was unclear what would happen to the factory site. Now it is certain: the pharmaceutical service provider Vetter will settle there and create numerous new jobs.
The global pharmaceutical service provider Vetter wants to settle on the Ford site in Saarlouis. This was announced by the Saarland Ministry of Economic Affairs and the company based in Ravensburg. The family business, founded in 1950 by pharmacist Helmut Vetter, specializes in liquid and freeze-dried medicines that are filled into syringes and other injection systems. A plant for 2,000 employees is to be built in Saarland for several hundred million euros. According to the information, 50 hectares of the previously undeveloped Ford area and the final assembly site after the end of Ford Focus production at the end of November 2025 will be used for this purpose.
Almost two years ago, Ford announced the decision that the plant in Valencia, Spain, would be awarded the contract for the new electric car platform. This sealed the end of Focus production in Saarlouis. Hopes that a Chinese car manufacturer would take over the plant were dashed in October after months of negotiations.
At the end of February, the employees agreed to a comprehensive social collective agreement. The agreements include the continued employment of 1,000 of Ford’s 3,750 employees until the end of 2032, high severance payments and bonuses, the formation of a transfer company and qualification programs.
Vetter from Upper Swabia is considered the world market leader. The company currently employs over 6,300 people worldwide. Its turnover has doubled since 2016, and last year it broke the one billion euro mark.
Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger described the settlement as a “stroke of luck for Saarlouis and the whole of Saarland”. From the perspective of Saarland’s Minister of Economic Affairs Jürgen Barke, the location will be more robust and diverse. According to Udo J. Vetter, Chairman of the Company Advisory Board and member of the owner family, Saarlouis has emerged as the location with the best conditions for expanding production capacities.