ABEC to build $11 million plant in North Carolina

ABEC, the Bethlehem-based biotech equipment manufacturing company, announced Wednesday that it’s investing $11 million to build a new plant in Wilson County, North Carolina.

The 50,000-square-foot facility on 13 acres will expand ABEC’s single-use disposable container manufacturing capacity for its custom single run biomanufacturing solutions.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a release that the project will bring 251 jobs to Wilson County.

Founded in 1974, ABEC serves customers representing the majority of the world’s pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The release noted that many leading therapies are manufactured by processes and equipment engineered, manufactured, installed and serviced by ABEC.

The North Carolina plant will feature an ISO-7 cleanroom and state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment. It will be ABEC’s third global disposable container manufacturing site and is expected to be fully operational early in the second quarter of next year.

ABEC currently supplies disposable containers globally from ISO-7 cleanrooms in Fermoy, Ireland, and its headquarters in Bethlehem. The addition of the Wilson County facility “will ensure ABEC continues to offer the shortest (disposable container) lead times in the industry,” a release from the company said.

The jobs created will be highly skilled, from engineers to manufacturing personnel, with the average salary being $52,613.

“We are pleased that the industry is recognizing the value of our (custom single run) products and we are excited about our investment in Wilson,” ABEC’s CEO and Chairman Scott Pickering said. “We look forward to building new long-term partnerships in the area and supporting our customers globally from this new site.”

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer