Production employees have a wide variety of tasks at Orion. Read more about the various jobs and the plant operations!
Orion has six modern production plants in Finland for the manufacture and packaging of medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The pharmaceutical plants are located in Espoo, Turku, Kuopio and Salo. They manufacture a variety of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products, including gels, solutions, injections, tablets, capsules, cytostatics, inhalators, creams and nasal products.​​
​​​​​​​Orion’s subsidiary Fermion manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients in Oulu and Hanko.
Production employees’ tasks at the pharmaceutical plants
Pharmaceutical production work includes manufacturing and packaging medicines in clean rooms with different classifications, monitoring production lines, controlling processes, using protective equipment in connection with pharmaceutical production, creating and managing documents, managing cleaning procedures and complying with instructions. The work requires special attention and care, as well as technical skills. Finnish language skills are a requirement for nearly all production jobs, as Finnish is our working language, and our instructions and guidelines are in Finnish.
Depending on the department, we mainly work during the day or in two or three shifts. The five-shift model is also in use.
Read more about the operations of our units and departments in different locations
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Espoo
The inhalator production facility manufactures inhalators. The production process is divided into mass production, filling and packaging. Here you can work as a process operator in manufacturing or as a packer of finished inhalators.
The injection department in Espoo is responsible for the manufacture of injection products up to packaging. The process begins with the preparation of the solution, which is then filled into bottles or ampoules. Each bottle and ampoule is inspected visually before it is transferred to the packaging plant, where the products are packed for customers. The department also has its own washing and equipment maintenance facility, where the equipment used is washed and sterilised.
Tablet production at the Espoo plant is divided into three phases: preparing the tablet mass, pressing the mass into tablets and applying film coating onto the tablets.
The warehouse operations at the Espoo plant involve receiving, dispatching, storing, collecting and sampling production and packaging materials and delivering materials to the various departments. The weighing department is part of the warehouse operations.
Our warehouse operations in Espoo are responsible for weighing raw materials for all the production departments and laboratories of the Espoo plant.
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Turku
Tablet production at the Turku plant is divided into three phases: preparing the tablet mass, pressing the mass into tablets and applying film coating onto the tablets. Equipment maintenance is an important part of production operations.
Tablet production at the Turku plant also includes a separate department for the manufacture of cytostatics, where tablets are produced and packaged.
The Specialty Products department in Turku manufactures products containing cytostatics. The production process is divided into manufacturing pharmaceutical masses and producing and packaging tablets and capsules.
The production processes of the cream and gel departments are divided into the preparation of a semi-sold mass (cream or gel) and its filling and packaging into a laminate stick, a tube, a pump dispenser or a glass bottle. Some products are also encased. Hormones are handled in the gel department, and appropriate protective equipment must be used during certain work phases.
The warehouse operations at the Turku plant involve receiving, dispatching, storing, collecting and sampling production and packaging materials and delivering materials to the various departments.
The Turku weighing department is responsible for weighing raw materials and pharmaceutical ingredients for the needs of the production departments. The work is quite physical and requires a sufficient level of fitness. Forklift operation skills are an advantage.
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Salo
Our plant in Salo is responsible for packaging tablets. The Salo plant has two packaging departments. In our automated tablet packaging plant, we pack tablet products into blister packs and bottles. The packaging is fully automated on modern packaging lines. In our manual packaging department, we carry out various types of packaging work in accordance with customers’ needs, both manually and with mechanical assistance.
Warehouse operations: Orion’s main warehouse is located in Salo. Almost all of Orion’s end products are shipped to other countries from this large warehouse. In addition to shipping, we receive and store end products and raw materials. We also collect and deliver materials for the needs of the packaging plants.
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Kuopio
Solution manufacturing in Kuopio focuses on the production of non-sterile medicines.
The packaging plant and warehouse in Kuopio package and store medicines produced in the form of solutions in Kuopio.
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Hanko and Oulu, Fermion
Orion’s subsidiary Fermion manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients in Oulu and Hanko, for both Orion’s own use and external customers. Our work involves generic pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as Orion’s and our contract customers’ proprietary pharmaceutical ingredients.
The Hanko plant produces pharmaceutical ingredients with annual volumes of thousands of kilos.
The Oulu plant typically manufactures high-potency pharmaceutical ingredients with low annual volumes, but with demanding and lengthy manufacturing processes.
