Copan Diagnostics to expand manufacturing operations at its Murrieta facility

Despite tough economic times, Copan is proud to announce the expansion of its US operations. Copan Diagnostics, Inc. is undertaking a new multimillion dollar investment project to bring plastic transfer pipet and additional medical device manufacturing operations to its facility in Murrieta, California. The expansion plan includes the addition of blow molding machinery and filling and packing equipment to expand Copan's current capabilities.

To support the expansion, Copan purchased a 13,000 sq ft building adjacent to its current facility to house new plastic blow molding equipment used to manufacture transfer pipets. The new building allows the transfer of some activities from its current location freeing up space to expand medical device manufacturing operations for the company's microbiology specimen collection and transport line. The project is an integral part of Copan's corporate wide plan to support future demand. Norman Sharples, Executive VP, says that "in today's market, companies must examine opportunities to bring further efficiencies to their operations to remain competitive, which is what we are doing with this endeavor."

Plastic transfer pipets are an essential product widely used by hospital, research and industrial laboratories for transferring liquids and clinical samples during diagnostics testing or analytical research. In fact, as many as 500 million pipets are used in the USA annually. Copan has manufactured pipets at its Italian headquarters for over 25 years, and it has developed a customized blow molding equipment that maximizes productivity through a fully automated system for separating molded product from waste material, which is then 100% recycled.

The efficient technology developed and tuned at Copan Italia is now transferred to California. "The decision to bring manufacturing of this product line locally is to be able to bring the product closer to our customers to respond rapidly to their needs," Sharples adds. The initial phase of manufacture will focus on the three most popular pipets: 1ml, 3ml and Blood Banking pipets. During this phase, Copan will produce 300,000 pipets daily with plans to increase production in 2010.

"Copan is excited about this new venture as it greatly expands the capabilities of our US operation and allows Copan to enhance service to our customers. This expansion also marks the 15th anniversary of Copan's operations in the US," Sharples concludes.