Thermo Fisher Scientific's new UK facility opens for business
Thermo Fisher Scientific, a leading supplier to the life science sector, has opened a new 85,000ft2 (7,900m2) manufacturing and customer facility in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Thermo Fisher Scientific, a leading supplier to the life science sector, has opened a new 85,000ft2 (7,900m2) manufacturing and customer facility in Runcorn, Cheshire.
The new facility is the largest Thermo Fisher centre in the North of England and one of its biggest in the UK. The global company manufactures products used daily by pharmaceutical, biomedical, chemical and hospital labs around the world.
The location of the centre in the North West of England - a region strong in life science - will ensure the company has good connections with UK academics, hospitals, and multinational pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The project has created approximately 60 new jobs, and the total workforce onsite is now more than 200.
The facility houses Thermo Fisher's Anatomical Pathology and Chromatography Consumables businesses. This includes products and services to improve the detection and diagnosis of cancer and advance research for drug development.
In 2009, Thermo Fisher Scientific consolidated operations from locations in California USA and Eastbourne, UK to Runcorn. The facility's r&d director has relocated from the US to oversee product development.
In addition to being a centre of Excellence for Anatomical Pathology, the new facility is a manufacturing centre for Thermo Fisher's Chromatography Consumables used in laboratories specialising in chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis. The facility in Runcorn will enable the company to make more phase material used in the chromatography columns. It has also automated many processes to enable it to improve reproducibility of results, batch-to-batch and column-to-column.
Giulio Cerroni, vice president of Anatomical Pathology commercial operations - outside the US, said: This is an important investment for the company, and we are already considering the next phase of development for the site.. The company said it plans to double its r&d spend in 2010 with the aim of meeting demand for more sensitive yet robust testing solutions.