Philip Morris International said yesterday that it had stopped cigarette production at the Aspropyrgos factory of its Greek affiliate, Papastratos, which was now exclusively producing HEETS, the tobacco units used with its heated-tobacco product, IQOS.
‘This first full conversion of a cigarette factory is a landmark step in our vision of a smoke-free future where people who smoke switch from the most harmful form of nicotine consumption – cigarettes – to scientifically substantiated smoke-free alternatives,’ the company said in a note posted on its website.
‘The €300 million investment included the construction of three new buildings and the replacement of cigarette production lines with high-tech facilities capable of producing 10,000 smoke-free tobacco units per minute.
‘The conversion of the factory started in August 2017. The facility is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2018 and will create 400 new jobs.’
“This is a historic day for our company,” said André Calantzopoulos, PMI’s CEO. “Papastratos is the first of our factories to end cigarette production and fully shift to manufacturing our smoke-free alternatives.
“We will continue to convert existing sites and invest in new facilities to answer global adult smoker demand for better alternatives to cigarettes.
“We made a commitment to provide all people who would otherwise continue smoking with potentially less harmful products. The momentum around this revolutionary change for the benefit of the world’s 1.1 billion smokers, public health and society at large is growing, and we will continue working towards a smoke-free future.”
Along with PMI’s plant near Bologna, Italy, Papastratos is its second facility fully dedicated to manufacturing smoke-free products. PMI has announced plans also to transform, either fully or partially, its cigarette factories in Korea, Romania and Russia.
‘Since 2008, we have invested more than US$4.5 billion in scientific research, product and commercial development, and production capacity related to IQOS and other smoke-free products,’ the note said. ‘In 2017, over 70 percent of our global R&D expenditure and over 30 percent of our global commercial expenditure was allocated to smoke-free products.
‘We estimate that at the end of January 2018, nearly five million adult consumers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to IQOS. Our ambition is that all those who would otherwise continue smoking abandon cigarettes and switch completely to scientifically substantiated smoke-free products as soon as possible. Appropriate regulatory policies and decisions can substantially accelerate the speed and magnitude of this historic change.’
Turning the HEETS up
