diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 7ca1984b185..3883c22f676 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -382,14 +382,20 @@ dependencies {
  xjc group: 'com.sun.xml.bind', name: 'jaxb-xjc', version: '2.2.4-1'
 }
 
+ def schemaTargetDir = new File ('src/main/gen')
+
+task createDirs () {
+ schemaTargetDir.mkdirs()
+}
  
-task xjc () {
+task xjc () { 
  ant.taskdef(name: 'xjc', classname: 'com.sun.tools.xjc.XJCTask', classpath: configurations.xjc.asPath)
  
  ant.xjc(
-  destdir: 'src/main/gen',
+  destdir: schemaTargetDir,
   schema: 'src/main/resources/xjc/medline.xsd'
  )
 }
  
-compileJava.dependsOn xjc
+ xjc.dependsOn createDirs
+ compileJava.dependsOn xjc