Building Regional Process Liquids and Buffers Supply Chains

Ensuring a Robust Supply of Process Liquids and Buffers for Biomanufacturing Through Regionalization

Process liquids and buffers are critical components for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. From fatty acids, cell culture media and antifoam agents for cell culture, to reagents and buffers for downstream processing, to chemicals for cleaning in place, process liquids and buffers are needed at every step of bioprocessing. 

A robust supply of quality process liquids and buffers is critical to ensure uninterrupted manufacturing of safe and effective biopharmaceutical products.

As biopharmaceutical supply chains are facing a variety of destabilizing forces, from pandemics to natural disasters to a constantly changing geopolitical landscape, and growing demand, we are reimagining our supply network to ensure business continuity.

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Section Overview

• Regionalized Production, Global Oversight
• Explore our Global Capabilities for Process Liquids, Buffers and Cleaning-in-place Solutions
• Business Continuity with Regional Redundancy
• A Global Standard of Quality and Consistency
• Integrating Sustainability into our Operations
• Explore Our Global Process Liquids and Buffers Offerings and Related Services

Regionalized Production, Global Oversight

To respond to ever-changing supply challenges and growing demand for biotech products, we are strengthening our supply chains combining global oversight with regional management. This allows us to respond swiftly to local demands while maintaining the highest standards of quality and consistency wherever production happens.

Our global in-region, for-region production capabilities are growing, with site expansions in Lenexa (USA), Irvine (UK), Darmstadt (Germany), and Nantong (China), and a new facility in Daejeon (South Korea) opening in 2026.

All sites operate using equivalent processes and equipment and adhere to our established global quality management system, ensuring consistent quality across all regions.

Explore our Global Capabilities for Process Liquids, Buffers and Cleaning-in-place Solutions

Our regional sites in the USA, Europe, and Asia-Pacific ensure our customers around the world always have access to high-quality process liquids, when and where they need them. 

US Region (Cleveland, OH; St. Louis, MO): Our USA-based manufacturing sites produce:

• Solid buffers: TRIS-HCl, HEPES, MES, BIS TRIS, and BIS TRIS HCl (Cleveland and St. Louis)
• Sterile filtered liquid buffers (St. Louis)

In addition, our site in Lenexa, KS, supports customers with our imMEDIAte ADVANTAGE^® service for pre-GMP small-scale custom buffers. All our imMEDIAte ADVANTAGE^® centers are aligned with key elements of our GMP quality systems, providing flexibility and expedited access to custom prototypes for development through commercial scale-up and production. 

European Region (Darmstadt, Germany, Irvine, UK; Mollet des Vallès, Spain): Our process liquids and buffers production sites in Germany, the UK, and Spain manufacture:

• Solid buffers: TRIS-HCl, HEPES, MES, BIS TRIS, and BIS TRIS HCl (all sites)
• Sterile filtered liquid buffers (Irvine) 
• Ready-to-use liquids (Irvine)
• Acetates, carbonates, citrates, and phosphates (Darmstadt)
• Acetic acid, citric acid, ethanol, benzylalcohol, isopropanol, NaOH, HCl solutions (Darmstadt) 

Our Darmstadt site is our global headquarters and our largest research and production site, serving as a global hub for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing and formulation with multiple production plants, R&D centers, and application services labs.

Asia-Pacific Region: Our Nantong, China, site is the main producer of process liquids in the Asia-Pacific region and will be complemented by our new site in Daejeon, South Korea, starting 2026. Daejeon will significantly expand our regional production for process liquids, producing soon:

• Liquid ready-to-use downstream buffers
• Cleaning-in-place solutions
• imMEDIAte ADVANTAGE^® pre-GMP small-scale custom buffer volumes

Business Continuity with Regional Redundancy

Our manufacturing sites are built for redundancy, meaning you get the same trusted process liquids from a site closer to your plant, with local support when you need it. All sites are certified with ISO 9001:2015, covered by business continuity plans, and the equipment and procedures are interoperable with existing global sites. Thanks to global quality governance and harmonized raw materials sourcing, our products perform identically, no matter where they were manufactured.

A Global Standard of Quality and Consistency

We go beyond industry standards with a unique framework for consistency and quality. Our integrated approach significantly reduces the risk of variability, ensures high-quality outputs, and establishes a robust framework for continuous improvement. This is achieved through: 

• Qualified production processes backed by one globally harmonized quality system: At all sites, we use the same core production processes, technology, and raw materials from a single, globally approved supplier list, proven by comparability studies*.
• Certification according to EXCiPACT^® GMP standards** for Pharmaceutical Auxiliary Materials (PAM) in Lenexa, St. Louis, Irvine, Darmstadt, Nantong, and Daejeon (planned in 2027): We co-developed this new industry standard for raw materials to ensure harmonization and quality across all manufacturing sites.
• Comprehensive documentation provided as part of our Emprove^® Program: Supporting risk assessment, qualification and process optimization efforts with reliable technical, quality, and supply information.
• The eMERGE™ Standard eData Exchange Platform: A standardized electronic exchange data highway, which supports supply chain digitalization through access to harmonized quality supplier data, predictive analytics, and faster issue resolution.

Integrating Sustainability into our Operations

We take a holistic approach to sustainability, both by implementing new manufacturing standards and supporting our customers in achieving their own sustainability goals. We do this by:

• Using a variety of resource-efficient equipment including solar panels for electricity, a heat-pump system for heating, energy-efficient equipment and automation, and water collection systems to reduce water use, as planned in Daejeon.
• Working with local raw materials suppliers and local customers to reduce shipping distances and transportation-related carbon emissions.
• Embedding sustainability into our product development processes to take a holistic approach across the product lifecycle, from R&D to manufacturing, logistics, packaging, and recycling.
• In 2025, we signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement in South Korea to add 16 MW of renewable electricity capacity starting in December 2027, expecting to serve approximately 75% of our Life Science business electricity demand in South Korea.

Explore Our Global Process Liquids Offerings and Related Services

• Bioprocessing Liquid Cell Culture Media and Buffers: Our global sterile filtered liquid capabilities are designed to enhance and streamline your process, for clinical trials materials all the way through commercial production. We provide high-quality cell culture media, buffers, enzymes, solvents, and bases. 
• pH Adjustment and Buffers: Our extensive portfolio of solid and liquid ready-to-use and custom buffer and pH adjuster materials is designed to accommodate different stages of drug manufacturing. We offer Emprove^® Evolve materials for early-stage applications as well as Emprove^® Essential and Emprove^® Expert products suitable for drug formulation, including high-risk applications.
• Pre-GMP small scale custom buffer volumes: Our imMEDIAte ADVANTAGE^® services provide the quick turnaround you need to complete your development work faster. All imMEDIAte ADVANTAGE^® centers are aligned with key quality and manufacturing features of our large-scale GMP facilities and source the same high-quality raw materials.
• Cleaning-in-Place (CIP) solutions: We help you save time and money with our tailor-made, high quality CIP solutions. Instead of preparing your own solutions, simply order the volumes and concentrations you need from our GMP (IPEC-PQG and/or EXCiPACT^®) cleaning process solutions plant, then integrate them into your own processes. This also mitigates safety concerns and exposure during hydration of those dangerous goods classified caustics, acids, solvents and flammables.

* Comparability studies for the new Daejeon manufacturing site are currently underway.
**The new Daejeon manufacturing site is planned to receive certification in accordance with EXCiPACT^® GMP standards for Pharmaceutical Auxiliary Materials (PAM) by 2027.