Siemens Healthineers is moving the production of ultrasound machines to Slovakia. Panattoni Park Košice Airport is now fully occupied

The industrial and logistics hub Panattoni Park Košice Airport, consisting of two modern and sustainable halls with a total area of more than 36,000 square metres, is one of the most modern buildings of this type. Siemens Healthineers will use 3,300 square metres for the manufacture and assembly of cutting-edge general imaging and cardiovascular ultrasound systems. This brings the capacity of the Košice site to full capacity. This shows the interest of the world's big-name companies to do business with efficiency as well as ecology in mind.

The Panattoni Park Košice Airport complex is ideally located near the international airport for easy air transportation. At the same time, it is situated close to the main road network to neighbouring countries. It is Siemens Healthineers that plans to make maximum use of ground transport within Europe instead of air transport, which will reduce their CO2 emissions by more than 90%.

Tenants at this and other Panattoni industrial hubs are further reducing emissions by operating in modern and sustainable buildings built to BREEAM Excellent standards. This certification guarantees environmental friendliness, maximum energy self-sufficiency, superior working conditions for employees and an overall level of sustainability for the entire facility.

"I am glad that Siemens Healthineers, after successful activities in Košice in other areas - mainly IT - has decided to expand its operations to include the production of such special products as medical ultrasound devices. I am all the more pleased that they have chosen for this project the premises that we have brought to the market in this region. We have confirmed that our buildings are designed not only for logistics, but also for the production of sophisticated equipment," says Erik Ivaničko, Director of Panattoni for Slovakia.

According to him, this is also a prime example of how the somewhat unrelated trends of bringing production closer to end customers and reducing the carbon footprint lead to the same result - demand for space and labour for products manufactured in Europe. Siemens Healthineers decided to move production of its ultrasound machines from Asia to modern buildings at the aforementioned site in Slovakia.

The convenient location of the logistics park in Košice was crucial for the company. The aim is to expand the already existing Košice development team by dozens of additional positions in production, administration and research, and the company will thus contribute to the economic development of the region. 

"Ultrasound devices are a fast-growing business and sales cycles are much faster than for some of the other products within Siemens Healthineers' offering. By having centrally located manufacturing in Europe, we will be able to bring our ultrasound devices to our customers across EMEA more quickly," adds Ajay Gannerkote, president of Siemens Healthineers' Ultrasound division.

Panattoni Park Košice Airport has now reached its capacity and, in addition to Siemens Healthineers, the tenants of this logistics centre include companies such as GreenPharm, PKZ Logistics or Medical Group SK a.s., a member of the Dr.Max Holding group, operator of the largest chain of Dr.Max pharmacies in Slovakia.