A closer look at SHL Medical’s new European manufacturing hub
July 17 2026
SHL Medical’s new manufacturing site in Zug is moving from construction milestone to operational reality. Equipment is being installed, production areas are taking shape, and teams across the organization are preparing for the facility’s first customer programs.
Sherline Wunder, SHL Medical’s Head of Operations, walks us through where things stand, what comes next, and what the transition means for our pharma partners.
The new site has been in development since 2020. Where do things stand today?
Sherline Wunder: We are at the point where the building is becoming a manufacturing environment. That sounds obvious, but for a long time this was a construction project. Now it is an operations project.
The Zug site has been in the works since 2020, but following a strategic shift in priorities, we fast-tracked our manufacturing expansion in the US and brought our North Charleston facility in South Carolina online first. Now we have shifted our full attention back to advancing our European manufacturing base.
Today, 11 injection molding machines are installed, key quality control equipment and assembly lines are in place, and we are actively preparing production areas. It is a different kind of energy on site when you walk through and see machines instead of scaffolding.
We had the foundation stone ceremony in 2024, the topping-out earlier this year, and now we are in the phase where everything has to come together for the planned consolidation of our existing Zug operations by the end of 2026. That is a very exciting transition because it brings us closer to realizing the full vision behind this investment.
There is a lot happening under one roof. Can you walk us through what the facility will actually do?
Sherline Wunder: The new Zug facility brings injection molding, automated assembly, advanced intralogistics system, quality control, laboratories, and logistics together at a single site. 20,000 square meters across ten floors, with about half of that dedicated to production.
What that integration means in practice is that the capabilities a customer program depends on are no longer spread across multiple locations, which shortens feedback loops and gives us more direct control over how programs move through production. For pharma partners running combination product programs with us, that is a meaningful difference in how responsive and efficient manufacturing environment can be.
Automation plays a major role in the design of the site. What will that look like in practice?
Sherline Wunder: The facility is designed so that each stage feeds into the next. A lot of that comes down to how materials move through the building. We are connecting an automated storage and retrieval system, a tool warehouse, and paternoster storage through robot-based overhead shuttles. So, materials move between production and storage automatically. In a facility of this scale, manual material movement can become a bottleneck fast. You can have the most advanced molding and assembly lines in the world, but if you are waiting on parts to get from one end of the building to the other, none of that matters.
On the assembly side, our capabilities are built around advanced automation, enabling the efficient and reliable production of high-quality components at different scales. The goal is consistent output at volume, not just peak capability. At the end of the day, it is about creating an environment that allows us to scale efficiently while maintaining the high standards our customers expect from SHL Medical.
Pharma partners have recently visited the new site. What are those conversations like?
Sherline Wunder: Customer engagement has been part of how we have approached this facility from the beginning. Recently, representatives from several pharmaceutical partners came to see the progress firsthand and discuss ongoing combination product programs with our teams. We are reviewing technical details, aligning on timelines, and confirming that the capabilities we are building match what the customers need.
This early involvement allows our customers to help shape how we prepare. When our partners walk through the facility and see the scale of investment and how quickly we are bringing production lines online from scratch, that inspires confidence in what we can deliver together. We are not simply building a facility. We are building the manufacturing environment that will support our customers’ programs for years to come.
![[.jpg] shl-medical-AOU-fsa-20240325-2](https://cdn.bfldr.com/DTG6CG68/at/pggcn9tsmhhhgqx4r7ftgn4s/shl-medical-AOU-fsa-20240325-2.jpg)
How are employees coming together in preparation for the new facility?
Sherline Wunder: We are actively recruiting across molding, assembly, logistics, facilities, and quality control. We recently held an open house for prospective colleagues to see the production environment and get the sense of what kind of opportunities are available at SHL Medical.
At the same time, we are managing the transition for existing employees. There is a lot of practical groundwork, from workplace setup and seating arrangements to commuting and day-to-day logistics. We want people to feel settled when they arrive.
What does success look like once the facility is fully operational?
Sherline Wunder: Success is seeing the facility running as designed: a fully integrated, efficient, and future-ready hub that is able to support the customer programs it was built for. It is our employees working well in the new environment. It is the consolidation going smoothly enough that our customers barely notice the transition, except that our capabilities have expanded.
This facility strengthens our manufacturing footprint in Europe. That is the strategic purpose. But it also serves as the proving ground where we stress-test the entire end-to-end process before implementing it across other sites, ensuring a high-quality, fast, and efficient introduction each time. On any given day, that is what success looks like to me: an environment where innovation, collaboration, and manufacturing excellence come together under one roof.
The consolidation of SHL Medical’s existing Zug operations into the new facility is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026. Interested in joining the team? Explore career opportunities at SHL Medical in Switzerland.