The Swiss-based specialist of perfumes and flavours intends to strengthens its development and production capabilities of natural ingredients and clean label solutions with the opening of a new plant and laboratory in Geneva.

Integrated into the Group’s flagship ingredients production site at La Plaine, Geneva, the facility benefits from the latest digital technology and operates to the highest safety and environmental standards, reducing waste and energy consumption.

With our new biotechnology pilot plant closely connected with the ingredients production site, Firmenich provides integrated biotech development all the way down to the finished product, without any gaps,” said Genevieve Berger, Chief Research Officer, Firmenich. “Opening a new era in ingredients creation, our pilot plant and laboratory harnesses new technologies to improve clean label solutions, while the latest digital innovation maximizes efficiency.

Operational this month, the pilot plant at La Plaine should enable the development of more efficient and higher quality production processes, for both perfumery and flavours, through biotechnology or natural extraction. Firmenich banks on this new plant to provide faster speed-to-market and greater flexibility for customer collaboration.

For instance, harnessing digital technology for increased automation, the pilot plant is able to move from single to continuous batch process, increasing efficiency, speed and reducing the use of raw materials.

Our new pilot plant provides greater flexibility to respond to customer needs in product development,” explained Sarah Reisinger, Senior Vice President Research Operations, Firmenich. “Capable of handling multiple projects simultaneously, it also enables small scale production of trial batches for formulation or testing and regulatory validation.

In addition, the new pilot plant benefits from efficient bioreactors, which minimizes both the amount of waste produced and energy consumed.