Changes Underway For Former Caliper Life Sciences
The global manufacturer of health and safety products that purchased Hopkinton-based Caliper Life Sciences last year for $600 million is making some changes to its new property, where it plans to add employees.
Waltham-based PerkinElmer Inc. received local approval in May to construct a 60,000-square-foot, three-story addition at the Hopkinton site, which will house a facility the company is calling Personalized Health Innovation Center of Excellence. The center, made up of offices and R&D space, will be attached to the headquarters building at 68 Elm St., according to plans filed with the town.
The addition, which will also include reconfiguration of some existing space, will bring the facilities to a total of approximately 200,000 square feet, according to a statement from Bruce Bal, the company's vice president of operations, life sciences and technology.
The company also expects to grow its workforce from 180 to 350 after the center is built.
The purpose of the center is to put a variety of scientists together in one space to collaborate and aim for innovative products to help researchers working to eradicate disease and extend lives, the company said in a statement.
PerkinElmer also received approval to build 25,000 square feet of warehouse space at a nearby building on Parkwood Ave.
The company's products include laboratory equipment, clinical diagnostic and neonatal screening systems, testing services, and software, among others. The acquisition of Caliper added further imaging and detection products for life sciences researchers to PerkinElmer's portfolio.
Specifically, researchers in the center will focus on products for researchers of genomics, imaging, biomarkers, biotherapeutics, targeted small-molecule development and cell-based assay solutions, PerkinElmer said.
Excellence: A Popular Model
PerkinElmer is already familiar with the Center of Excellence model, which tends to describe a collaborative, R&D effort to discover new products or achieve efficiencies.
"PerkinElmer has a number of Centers of Excellence around the world to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing between PerkinElmer experts and customers,"Bal wrote.
The company has 25 such centers around the world, he added. But it's far from the first company to establish a center of excellence in Central Massachusetts.
Saint-Gobain established its own center of excellence recently at its Worcester facility to develop smaller grinding wheels for circuit boards and other technology requiring precision.
Spencer-based FLEXcon recently opened a facility with a collaborative R&D mission, though it named the building a technology and innovation center. The facility will help the company pursue new products for the solar panel market and flexible electronics.
UMass Memorial Medical Center has several centers of excellence dedicated to diseases like cancer and diabetes.
And Clark University has a Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified the company representative whose spoke on behalf of PerkinElmer. Bruce Bal, a PerkinElmer vice president, wrote the statements, which were relayed to MetroWest495 Biz through a public relations representative for the company.
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