Haleon aims to close production at its Maidenhead site in 'mid-October'
A global consumer health company has revealed that it is aiming to close production at its Maidenhead facility in 'mid-October'.
In April last year, Haleon revealed that its Norreys Drive facility was due to close, with operations transferring to its main oral health manufacturing hub in Levice, Slovakia.
The Maidenhead facility has been in operation for more than 60 years, after it was brought into by precursor companies in the late 1950s.
The site has a long history under GSK, Smithkline Beecham and others.
In a statement provided last year, Haleon revealed that following a strategic review of its global manufacturing capabilities, it has determined that its Maidenhead site ‘is no longer a viable option for the manufacture’ of its products.
“We have therefore taken the difficult decision to begin a phased closure of the site over a two-year period, subject to consultation,” the statement added.
The company has now revealed that it is aiming to close production at the site in ‘mid-October’, with operational colleagues exiting the company ‘by the end of October’.
A spokesperson added that ‘limited staff’ will remain at the site into 2026 to ‘complete the decommissioning process’.
Haleon was established in 2022 and is the result of the combination of consumer health companies Novartis, GSK and Pfizer, over the last decade.
Haleon demerged from GSK in 2022 and became a separate stand-alone company.
The company features a large portfolio of well-known brands covering aspects such as oral health, pain relief, respiratory health and digestive health.
Some of these include Sensodyne, Centrum, Voltaren and Panadol.
The spokesperson added that Haleon is ‘continuing to support colleagues impacted by the closure’.
The 435 staff members working at the site were briefed on the situation in April last year.
Two thirds of the staff members are from Berkshire or Buckinghamshire.
In the statement provided last year, the company added: “This decision was not taken lightly, and our priority is to ensure that the people impacted are supported through this process.
“This is an important step on Haleon’s journey to creating a more agile, effective consumer health organisation, with an efficient global supply chain network that can deliver the right capacity and agility to meet the requirements of our consumers.”
The business continues to have a ‘substantial presence’ in the UK, having invested more than £130million into a new ‘state-of-the-art, globally significant’ oral health R&D facility in Weybridge.
But this is a different kind of facility to the one operating in Maidenhead.
