Philip Morris invests in a "smoke-free future"

Philip Morris is in the process of doubling the capacity of its factory in Crespellano in the province of Bologna, initially opened just 9 months ago with a built area of 90,000 square metres. Following this latest €500 million investment, the facility will become the world’s largest plant for the production of tobacco sticks for IQOS low-risk e-cigarettes and will take on 600 new employees.

The tobacco industry giant decided to make the investment in response to the strong demand for heat-not-burn cigarettes and expects production capacity to reach 100 billion HEETs by the end of 2018, including the output of other factories undergoing construction or conversion in Europe. A further €320 million investment was announced a few days ago for a greenfield HEET production plant at the factory in Dresden, Germany, while facility conversions are planned in Greece, Romania and Russia.

The aim of this rapid expansion is to achieve a “smoke-free future”, which will benefit smokers, public health and society as a whole. The Virginia-based tobacco giant has 80,000 employees worldwide and global revenues of US $75 billion and owns six of the top 15 international tobacco brands across 180 countries.