Align Technology currently produces more than 700,000 clear aligner trays every day. However, according to a 22 April press release, this number is insufficient to support the future growth of the popular Invisalign clear aligner system. With its new factory in Wrocław, the company said it hopes to address a “large and under-penetrated market opportunity” in the EMEA region. Around 5 million patients begin orthodontic treatment in the EMEA region every year, and more than 150 million EMEA consumers could benefit from orthodontic treatment, the company said.

Details of the value of the investment in Wrocław or of expected production capacities at the site were not disclosed; however, Align said that at least 2,500 staff members would be needed in Wrocław before the end of 2025 and that the factory would begin shipping clear aligners to patients in the EMEA region in early 2022.

“This new investment will allow us to deliver on our ongoing commitment to Invisalign doctors”
– Markus Sebastian, Align Technology

“I’m excited to announce plans to open our first aligner manufacturing facility in the EMEA region, and third globally,” commented Emory Wright, senior vice president of global operations at the company. He continued: “This significant investment underscores our commitment to the more than 62,700 Invisalign-trained doctors and their patients in the EMEA region and extends our local operations in the region that include treatment planning facilities, based in Poland, Germany and Spain.”

Markus Sebastian, Align’s senior vice president and managing director for the EMEA region, added that the Wrocław plant would be the company’s largest ever investment in the EMEA region. “Align has been expanding its presence in the region for the past 20 years […] This new investment will allow us to deliver on our ongoing commitment to Invisalign doctors in the region to support them with more dedicated, customised support, as well as quicker turnaround and delivery times.”

Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin, who leads the country’s Ministry of Economic Development, Labour and Technology, was quoted in the press release as saying that Align Technology will be a welcome addition to the country’s growing list of industrial investors, which he said included “some of the world’s best specialists in digitisation and support instruments”.

Align currently operates a factory in Juarez, Mexico, which is located on the Rio Grande river opposite El Paso in Texas in the US. The company has another factory in Ziyang, a prefecture-level city located in Sichuan province in China.

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