Schering-Plough consolidates Summit site

Schering-Plough has announced plans to develop its 88-acre site in Summit, New Jersey, USA, for office space and R&D use in conjunction with consolidating several of its other New Jersey facilities.

"We plan to develop Summit into Schering-Plough's second-largest campus in New Jersey," said chief executive Fred Hassan, adding that it "will complement our headquarters location here in Kenilworth and bring together core teams and operations." He went on to say: "wherever possible, we intend to build contiguous work spaces so that our teams can work closely together. This creates important synergies and efficiencies, and reflects the new culture and global operations of the company we are building."

Mr Hassan noted that the decision to develop the Summit site came as part of his 360-degree review of S-P that he undertook after joining the company just over one year ago (Marketletters passim). Recognizing the challenges facing the company, he said several options for the site were considered, including its possible sale. The decision to proceed with development was made after determining that doing so would achieve several objectives: address current and future office space and R&D needs; consolidate functions that routinely interact at a single location; and be the most cost-effective, by capitalizing on the assets of an existing site and cutting costs by reducing the number of S-P satellite locations in New Jersey.