San Diego-based BeamOne is bringing its electron beam medical device sterilization technology to the region, investing $9 million to build a service center in Butler that will create 20 new jobs.
Construction on the Ebeam Sterilization Center will begin this year. The center, to be located in the Victory Road Business Park in Clinton Township, will be up and running by late 2010 and will include space for a possible second facility in the future. BeamOne's other facilities are located in California, Colorado, Ohio and Costa Rica.
"Sterilization is becoming a regional service, it just doesn't make sense for customers to ship products across the country to sterilize," explains Glenn Thibault, president and CEO of BeamOne. "Pittsburgh is a good location for us as a growing biosciences area."
BeamOne is the largest purveyor of electron beam sterilization technology in the world, using ionizing energy from accelerated electrons as its sterilization source. The process is considered a "greener" way to protect medical devices compared to gamma ray and gas-based processes that contain carcinogens, says Thibault.
"This gives us an edge for marketing the region to medical device manufacturers who will want to locate or grow their operations where there is an established sector and cost-saving efficiencies, such as close-to-home sterilization," adds Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.
Several local groups worked together to attract BeamOne to the region: the Community Development Corporation of Butler County; the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; MEDRAD; Massaro; CB Richard Ellis; and FirstEnergy, notes Yablonsky.
The center will provide sterilization services for medical device, pharmaceutical and labware manufacturers as well as tissue processors, lowering operating costs and providing faster delivery of products and services for companies in the region, adds John Friel, president and CEO of MEDRAD.
Writer: Debra Diamond Smit
Source: Glenn Thibault, BeamOne, Dennis Yablonsky, ACCD
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