Bracco's $230 Million Sanford Plant Is Expected to Bring 200 Jobs to North Carolina

Bracco, the Italian diagnostic imaging company, plans to invest $230 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing facility for injectable contrast media in Sanford, North Carolina, a project expected to create 200 jobs. The state backed the plan on Oct 27, 2026, when its Economic Investment Committee approved a Job Development Investment Grant for the project. For Metaintro readers in central North Carolina, this guide covers which roles the plant will need, what they are expected to pay, what the incentives require, and how local workers can train for biotech and pharmaceutical manufacturing work while the plant is planned.

What Is Bracco Building in Sanford?

The plant is a new sterile manufacturing plant that will make injectable contrast media, which are substances that temporarily change the way x-rays or other imaging tools interact with the body. It will complement Bracco's established production operations across Europe, Asia and Canada, giving the company a more geographically spread network.

Part of the business case is distance to customers. The plant will support growing demand for injectable contrast media, resulting in shorter delivery times and lower transportation costs. With production already running in Europe, Asia and Canada, company officials called a U.S. plant a logical next step.

The project builds on Bracco's nearly century-long history of innovation in diagnostic imaging. The United States is already the company's largest market. Its U.S. arm, Bracco Diagnostics Inc., lists its products as approved for clinical use by U.S. FDA and Health Canada.

The state announcement places the plant in Sanford without naming the exact site, and neither it nor Bracco's release gives a building size, a construction schedule or job titles.

Which Jobs Will the Plant Create?

The new roles are not all production line jobs. The investment is expected to create 200 jobs across manufacturing, engineering, technical operations, quality, warehousing and administrative functions, plus support operations.

What Will the Jobs Pay?

Local officials put pay at an annual average wage of $103,000, which is about 72% above the county average for private-sector jobs.

An average is not a starting wage. Jobs at the lower end of the scale are expected to pay more than $80,000, based on estimates from the Sanford Area Growth Alliance.

For context, the August plan for a STERIS chemistries campus in Sanford came with an average annual salary of $68,704, exceeding the Lee County average of $59,903.

The new jobs could create a potential annual payroll impact of more than $20.6 million for the region, a figure that comes from the state rather than from posted salaries.

We chose North Carolina for its talent and life sciences ecosystem, Bracco Imaging Vice Chairman and CEO Fulvio Renoldi Bracco said, according to the North Carolina Commerce announcement.

What Incentives Did North Carolina Approve?

The state grant went to Bracco Imaging Operations USA LLC, the Bracco entity named in the agreement. It authorizes potential reimbursement to the company of up to $2,859,300, spread over 12 years.

That money is not paid up front. State payments happen only following performance verification each year by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets.

Over the 12-year grant term, the project is estimated to grow the state's economy by $1.78 billion. The projected return on public dollars is 397 percent, meaning for every dollar of potential cost to the state, the state receives $4.97 in state revenue.

Lee County is a Tier 2 county under the state's economic tier system, so the agreement also calls for moving as much as $317,700 into the state's Industrial Development Fund, Utility Account, which helps rural communities pay for infrastructure. In the state's assessment, JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant's reimbursement payments to a given company.

How Does a Job Development Investment Grant Work?

The program is a performance-based, discretionary incentive program that provides cash grants directly to a company when it creates jobs and invests in the state. Grants are awarded only in competitive recruitment or retention situations.

Pay levels feed into the size of the award. The factors weighed include the wages of the jobs, compared to the given county average wage, along with the location of the project, the county tier, the number of net new jobs, the level of investment and the company's industry sector.

Grant payments use a formula that takes into consideration the new taxes generated by the new jobs that are created. A percentage of those newly generated funds are reimbursed to the awarded company for the term of the grant, and only as long as the company meets its targets. For workers, that structure ties the incentive to jobs actually created and investment actually made, not to jobs promised.

What Did Sanford and Lee County Offer?

Local governments added their own package. Lee County and Sanford officials offered incentives packages worth up to about $7 million, as listed in public notices.

Those local payments are spread out and conditional. Bracco will receive the incentive over six years from Sanford and Lee County in exchange for hitting investment and job creation targets.

The partners named on the project include Central Carolina Community College, Lee County, Sanford Area Growth Alliance, City of Sanford, and Duke Energy, along with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and Commerce's Division of Workforce Solutions.

When Will Hiring Start, and When Will the Plant Be Fully Staffed?

The state and Bracco announcements give no hiring start date. The Sanford Area Growth Alliance expects the plant to be fully staffed by 2031.

For one comparison, Kyowa Kirin broke ground on its first North American manufacturing facility last year, and it is expected to become fully operational in 2027.

What Are Contrast Media, and Why Does a U.S. Plant Matter?

Contrast materials help distinguish or contrast selected areas of the body from surrounding tissue. Iodine-based and barium-sulfate compounds are used in x-ray and computed tomography (CT) imaging exams, while gadolinium is the key component of the contrast material most often used in magnetic resonance (MR) exams.

Bracco makes contrast agents for X-ray, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, as well as microbubbles for contrast-enhanced ultrasound, along with molecular imaging agents.

Supply matters because hospitals have run short before. In May 2022 the Food and Drug Administration listed shortages of GE Healthcare's iohexol and iodixanol intravenous contrast media products after a Covid lockdown temporarily shut down its production facility for iodinated contrast media in Shanghai, China. During that shortage, hospitals that depended on iodinated contrast media (ICM) were postponing treatment-monitoring imaging for cancer patients, and GE was then one of four manufacturers of ICM.

In Bracco's own words, with additional sterile manufacturing capacity in the United States, it will be better positioned to meet growing demand, respond to customer needs and support reliable access to injectable contrast media. Fulvio Renoldi Bracco said making the product in Sanford brings our supply closer to American hospitals and patients and makes it even more resilient.

Adding 200 jobs with high wages for skilled STEM-related work means that the best and brightest minds our community produces will be able to use their talents to the fullest right here at home, Lee County Board of Commissioners chair Samantha Martin said, according to the Rant NC report.

Who Is Bracco?

Bracco Group was founded in 1927 and has its headquarters in Milan, Italy. It operates in more than 100 countries, with a workforce of over 4,000 employees and consolidated annual revenues of approximately €2 billion (about $2.23 billion).

The company invests around 9% of its reference turnover in research and development, and it remains family-owned. Fulvio Renoldi Bracco tied that ownership to a long-term view, saying the company invests for the long term and looks forward to growing with the Sanford community for decades to come.

Beyond contrast agents, Bracco describes itself as a global market leader in advanced contrast management technologies for cardiovascular angiography and radiology imaging. It also works on artificial intelligence-based solutions alongside its imaging agents, and its molecular imaging line includes radioactive tracers and novel positron emission tomography imaging agents.

Why Do Life Sciences Companies Keep Choosing Sanford?

Bracco joins several others. In August, STERIS set out plans to create 335 jobs in Lee County and build a Chemistries Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Sanford. The STERIS project is a new factory in Sanford, with its jobs expected over a four-year period. Astellas Pharma in 2022 opened a gene-therapy plant in Sanford, and Pfizer has also employed hundreds at a gene-therapy plant in the county.

More may follow. Local officials have said at least three other companies are considering opening new plants or expanding operations in Sanford, projects that could create a combined 370 jobs. Sanford Mayor Rebecca Wyhof Salmon said the healthcare companies that have chosen the city help reinforce our century-long tradition as a cutting-edge manufacturing community. Sanford's manufacturing base is not only life sciences either, as Caterpillar's plan to upskill its Sanford workers shows.

Bracco chose Sanford for its skilled workforce, established life sciences ecosystem and supportive environment for advanced manufacturing. Other draws for companies targeting Sanford include its proximity to a smattering of life sciences companies, a strong talent pool and access to major road networks, airports and other means of transport.

How Can Local Workers Train for Plant Jobs Like These?

One local route is BioWork at Central Carolina Community College. BioWork is a certificate program that can lead to an entry-level position as a process technician at a biotechnology, pharmaceutical, or chemical manufacturing company.

The course is short. The BioWork course runs two to four months, and classes are hybrid and online. A full-time staff member helps students with job search, including resume development and interview preparation.

There are two entry requirements. All new students must hold a High School Diploma or Equivalency (GED, HiSET, TASC) and complete a required online information session before registration, which takes approximately 30 minutes from start to finish.

The college lists Bioprocess Technician, Manufacturing Associate, Process Operator, QA Specialist and QC Technician as BioWork careers, and Bracco names manufacturing and quality among its Sanford job families.

BioWork also counts toward further study, since students earn 8 credits by completing BioWork toward the Bioprocess Technology certificates and degree.

Workforce training is also part of the state's pitch for the project. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley pointed to the First in Opportunity strategic plan, through which the state is advancing workforce training, encouraging innovation, and creating an environment where companies can grow. At the college, industry partners serve as part-time instructors, volunteer in classes and attend networking events.

What This Means for Job Seekers, and What Should You Do Next?

This is a long build. The average pay figure is a local estimate, and the state ties its grant to job creation and investment targets verified each year. Full staffing is the alliance's estimate for the end of the ramp, not its start, so starting manufacturing and quality training now fits the plant's timeline.

• Start the training clock early. The BioWork certificate can lead to entry-level process technician work, while lab technician certification is a separate credential aimed at clinical labs.
• Aim at the right job family. Many BioWork graduates begin as technicians, though related opportunities also exist in customer service, sales, and supply chain.
• Look at the whole Sanford cluster. STERIS plans a state-of-the-art campus that will include advanced manufacturing, R&D, lab, warehouse, and distribution operations in the same city.

Lacey Kaelani, Metaintro's CEO, puts it this way: A plant announcement is a hiring calendar, not a job offer, and the people who get hired are the ones who trained while the walls were still going up.

Related Articles

• Skills for Your Manufacturing Resume
• What an Automation and Controls Technician Does and What It Pays
• How to Become a PLC Technician and Launch Your Controls Career
• What a Level One Technician Does and How to Reach Level Two
• How to Become a Mechanical Technician and Which Route Pays More
• Laboratory Technician Certification and Your Pathway to Clinical Lab Leadership
• The Different Levels of Radiology Careers Explained
• Electrical Engineer Salary and How to Earn More

People Also Asked

Q: How many jobs will Bracco create in Sanford, North Carolina?

A: Bracco expects to create 200 jobs across manufacturing, engineering, technical operations, quality, warehousing and administrative functions at its planned Sanford plant.

Q: How much will Bracco jobs in Sanford pay?

A: Local officials put the annual average wage at $103,000, and jobs at the lower end are expected to pay more than $80,000.

Q: What will the Bracco plant in Sanford make?

A: It will be a new sterile manufacturing plant for injectable contrast media, which improve the visibility of specific organs, blood vessels, or tissues in imaging exams.

Ready to explore? Metaintro brings together 50M jobs in one place. Create a free profile and start your search today.