Lilly announces $3 billion expansion for Kenosha County manufacturing plant

KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Eli Lilly and Company announced Thursday, Dec. 5, plans to expand their manufacturing facility in Kenosha County. The $3 billion expansion will add 750 high-skilled jobs, according to Lilly. 

A news release from the company says, the growing facility will extend their product manufacturing capabilities, helping to meet the demand for its diabetes and obesity products. 

"Today’s announcement represents our single largest U.S. manufacturing investment outside our home state of Indiana and will add to our ability to expand capacity to make both our existing and future pipeline of medicines right here in the Midwest,” said Edgardo Hernandez, executive vice president and president of Lilly Manufacturing Operations. “We look forward to bringing high-wage, advanced manufacturing, engineering and science jobs to people in Wisconsin, a state that is becoming a critical geography in our global manufacturing operations.”

The expected 750 available positions will include operators, technicians, engineers, and scientists. 

Additionally, Lilly expects to employ more than 2,000 during the construction of the expansion. 

Lilly announced the acquisition of a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Prairie Highlands Corporate Park in the Village of Pleasant Prairie in April 2024. They bought the facility from Illinois-based Nexus Pharmaceuticals, which had built the 100,000-square-foot facility in 2019.

Lilly plans to start construction on the expansion in 2025.