How three core values showed up at the Lilly Lehigh Valley groundbreaking, and what this project already means to the region
For now, it’s a grass and dirt field off Main Street in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania.
On Thursday afternoon, under a white tent and a gray November sky, Lilly leaders, Pennsylvania officials, and local partners gathered for a ceremonial groundbreaking, and that field became the start of something much bigger. Eli Lilly and Company officially broke ground on Lilly Lehigh Valley, a $3.5 billion injectable medicine and device manufacturing site.
The tent was packed well before the program began: Lilly leaders, Governor Josh Shapiro, state and local officials, building trades, educators, nonprofit partners, and neighbors from Upper Macungie Township, with guests and media catching up while they waited.
The numbers are big. But what stood out most was something you can’t put on a spreadsheet: how clearly Lilly’s three long-standing core values came through in every speech.
Integrity. Excellence. Respect for people.
The project at a glance
Lilly is investing $3.5 billion in the site, the largest life sciences investment in Pennsylvania’s history. The facility will make next-generation injectable medicines for obesity and related diseases, and it will bring more than 850 permanent, high-wage roles, plus about 2,000 construction jobs.
The site is expected to be operational by 2031, “or hopefully before that,” and is targeting LEED Gold certification. It will also be an export site, making medicines in Pennsylvania for patients here and around the world.
A new chapter in a 150-year story
Roberto Vazquez-Sanabria, site head for Lilly Lehigh Valley, opened the ceremony by placing the day in context. Lilly has spent 150 years discovering and delivering medicines. Fogelsville, he said, is where the company writes its next chapter.
He shared a lesson from his early career as a young engineer in Puerto Rico, helping bring a new facility to life. The habits a team builds in its early days become the standard for years to come.
“Here at Lehigh Valley, we will build the same strong foundation from day one.”
He was just as clear about Lilly’s goal for the region: to be more than a manufacturing center, and to become a neighbor the community is proud to have.
Roberto Vazquez-Sanabria, site head for Lilly Lehigh Valley, opens the ceremony.
Integrity: earning trust, one dose at a time
Lilly Chair and CEO Dave Ricks spoke about what patients need most from a medicine: trust.
“When a patient takes a medicine, they need to trust it every time they take it.”
That trust is earned in the details. Before any medicine leaves a Lilly site, he explained, each production run goes through more than 5,000 documented steps. Every single pen is imaged and inspected more than 70 times to check for defects.
Lilly Chair and CEO Dave Ricks on why trust is earned one dose at a time.
Integrity also showed up in how Lilly talked to its new neighbors. Ricks thanked Upper Macungie residents for their patience during construction. He invited them to reach out with any questions or concerns, and promised Lilly would work with the community to solve problems as they come up.
That is a company that plans to be held accountable.
Excellence: built to lead from day one
Ricks described the site as one of the most technically advanced, not just at Lilly, but in the industry. It will use machine learning, AI, and digitally integrated systems from day one, with a goal of a fully automated process from receiving materials to the warehouse.
A rendering of the future Lilly Lehigh Valley site, set against the field where construction is starting.
What it will make matters too. The site will produce Lilly’s next generation of injectable obesity medicines, including an investigational medicine now in several Phase 3 trials. It’s a single molecule that activates three of the body’s hormones.
Obesity is linked to more than 200 health conditions. A promising medicine only helps people if it can be made at scale. As Ricks put it, “That’s what Lehigh Valley is for.”
Excellence was also on display in how fast the partners have moved. Governor Shapiro said the Commonwealth issued Lilly’s permit in about two months and approved its air quality plan in 39 business days, well ahead of normal timelines.
Respect for people: technology that serves the team
One line from Ricks deserves to be repeated:
Technology at this site will work for the people who run it, not the other way around.
That respect for people runs through the whole project. Lilly will hire more than 850 engineers, scientists, operators, and lab technicians, and hiring is already under way. To help build that workforce, the company is working with Lehigh Carbon Community College on curriculum, equipment, and student outreach.
The commitment reaches beyond the plant, too. A new program will provide up to $1 million over five years for nutrition, healthy living, and fresh food access for Lehigh Valley families. Lilly is also a founding member of a new community center near the site, and is working with local universities, United Way, and other nonprofits.
One community partner put it simply: this isn’t just about the years of construction. It’s about a lasting impact.
In a short video, members of the new Lilly Lehigh Valley team talked about watching the site rise “from a grass patch,” the teams they’ll build, and how this opportunity matches their own career paths with Lilly’s mission.
What Lilly means to the Valley
Governor Shapiro told a story from a recent event in the region. When he mentioned Lilly’s investment, someone in the back row shouted, “Yeah, Lilly!”
“You typically do not hear people cheering for pharmaceutical companies,” he said. “They are cheering here for Lilly.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro: “They are cheering here for Lilly.”
Don Cunningham, President and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, explained why. The Lehigh Valley sits in the shadow of Philadelphia and New York, and will never have its own major league team. So, it cheers for its manufacturers.
“We cheer for Mack Trucks and Crayola Crayons, and Martin Guitars, and now we cheer for Lilly!”
Don Cunningham, President and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation.
That line landed because it’s true. This is a region built on making things. It knows what a long-term manufacturing commitment means for families, schools, and small businesses.
Lilly chose the Lehigh Valley from more than 300 communities. The Governor called it “a generational project.” And the momentum is spreading, with more life sciences and food manufacturing investments following across the region and the Commonwealth.
Lilly didn’t just choose the Lehigh Valley. It is helping set the pace for what the Valley can become.
The first shovel
With a countdown of “three, two, one,” Lilly leaders, state officials, and local partners turned the first dirt on the site.
Three, two, one: the first shovels of dirt at Lilly Lehigh Valley.
It was a short moment. What it starts will last for decades: medicines made in Pennsylvania, careers built here, and a community partner committed to doing things the right way.
BioBuzz will be following this story every step of the way, from steel to start-up to the first medicines leaving Fogelsville.
Welcome home, Lilly. The Lehigh Valley is cheering.
