Home Care In Mebane, NC

It’s possible that never before has something so small garnered so much attention in Mebane, but that’s exactly what happened last week, when dozens of notables, including North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, turned out for the official opening of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s 375,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The plant will make pipettes, which are tiny instruments used to precisely measure and transfer small volumes of liquid in scientific research and clinical settings.

The site was developed through a $192.5 million co-investment with the U.S. government, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Mebane state-of-the-art facility is expected to employ 100 people, and currently has 45 on staff. Statewide, Thermo Fisher Scientific employs almost 8,000 workers at its other locations in Wilmington, High Point, Asheville, Greenville and Morrisville.

“I want to thank you all for having a good sense to choose North Carolina to locate this new facility and expansion,” said Gov. Josh Stein. “I too, want to thank the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for its substantial investment to help make this facility a reality. It is a shining example of how public-private partnerships can rebuild American manufacturing.

“North Carolina is the ideal home for this plant,” Gov. Stein said. Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper was also recognized for the role his administration played in bringing Thermo Fisher’s newest manufacturing plant to the state.

“This new manufacturing site now strengthens the pipette tips supply chain,” said Sandy Pound, chief communications officer with Thermo Fisher Scientific. “In every lab, pipettes quietly ensure the accuracy and reproducibility that science depends on. They’re the precise instruments behind every reliable result.”

The massive and bright facility is a marvel of automation, with stations throughout the main floor that are walled in with clear plexiglass to prevent contamination. The pipettes and their casings are molded and filters are inserted by way of incredibly precise machinery, methodically moving through an assembly line that includes labeling and packaging. There is very little waste. At its peak capacity, Thermo Fisher’s Mebane site will be able to produce 43 million pipettes in a week.

Pipettes, and their many uses in medical research, were among the instruments affected by supply chain stoppages in the U.S. during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The opening of this facility is a testament to the strengthening of our supply chain, especially in light of the vulnerabilities and disruptions that we all experienced during the Covid pandemic,” Gov. Stein continued. “By ensuring a reliable domestic supply chain of pipette tips, which are essential for diagnostic testing and scientific research, this facility will meet a critical national need and help us overcome hurdles in the future.”

U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, who represents North Carolina, spoke at the opening via video message.

“Thermo Fisher’s investment ensures these crucial laboratory products are developed and manufactured right here in the United States of America,” he said. “This dramatically strengthens our health care supply chain resilience and has a tremendous positive impact on our economy, creating high-quality jobs and opportunities across North Carolina. Your commitment here in Mebane is a powerful testament to America’s continued leadership in science and innovation.”

“Mebane and Orange County officials, together with community leaders, recognized early on that to remain economically viable and attractive to industry, we needed to invest in infrastructure and collaborate across sectors,” said Mebane Mayor Ed Hooks. “This vision was not born overnight, but developed through decades of foresight and hard work.”

Also touted at the ribbon cutting was the environmental impact of the company’s new location.

“Our Mebane manufacturing site was designed from the ground up with net-zero principles, incorporating features that reduce environmental impacts, enhance energy efficiency and renewable energy use, utilize sustainable materials and promote community engagement as a carbon neutral facility,” said Sandy Pound. “Mebane not only meets but exceeds our low carbon and sustainability targets.”

“Science never sleeps, and neither does our responsibility to enable it,” said Erica Hirsch, president at Thermo Fisher. “This site is more than just a response to today’s needs. It’s a blueprint for future readiness, supply insurance, quality and agility. That’s what our customers expect, and that’s our commitment here in Mebane and across the company.”

Others in attendance at the ceremony were Chief Deputy Secretary of N.C. Department of Commerce Kenny Flowers; N.C. State Representative Renee Price; representatives from the offices of Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd and U.S. Congresswoman Valerie Foushee; members of the Board of Orange County Commissioners; and members of the Mebane City Council.

Thermo Fisher Scientific opened a center of excellence facility in Mebane, NC. The new 375,000-sq-ft carbon neutral site will be capable of producing at least 40 million laboratory pipette tips per week, helping to ensure that life-saving medicines and therapies continue to be developed and produced in the U.S. for decades to come, according to Erica Hirsch, president, laboratory chemicals.

“As a global leader in life sciences manufacturing, we’re proud to serve as a growth engine for the American economy and provide our customers with a strong and agile supply chain that enables them to advance human health,” said Hirsch. “The opening of our Mebane site is a testament to our larger strategy to strengthen our manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and support continued innovation and expanded growth in North Carolina, building on the strong foundation we’ve already established in this state.”

The Mebane site has hired 40 people and is expected to add 50 jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and business operations. Thermo Fisher currently employs approximately 7,800 colleagues across 13 sites in NC, including a center of excellence for laboratory equipment in Asheville, three life sciences [and] manufacturing sites in Durham, pharmaceutical manufacturing sites in Greenville and High Point, and a Raleigh distribution center.

The site results from a $192.5 million contract, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), awarded in 2021. In addition to investing $1 billion in R&D in the U.S. annually, Thermo Fisher has more than doubled in size in the U.S. since 2017, now employing more than 50,000 people in the U.S. today, according to the company.

Gov. Josh Stein raised a giant pair of red scissors Thursday, joining local and state officials who cut the ribbon on Orange County’s newest manufacturing facility in Mebane.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s 375,000-square-foot facility, which opened last year on West Ten Road, produces precision pipette tips and kits for bioscience, research and diagnostics, including DNA analysis, medical testing, and laboratory research.

It’s the result of a $192.5 million “strategic co-investment” by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, aimed at building flexibility and redundancy into the nation’s capacity to produce biotech equipment, company officials have said.

“The opening of this facility is a testament to the strengthening of our supply chain, especially in light of the vulnerabilities and disruptions that we all experience during the COVID pandemic,” Stein said Thursday. “By ensuring a reliable domestic supply chain of pipette tips ... this facility will meet a critical national need and help us overcome hurdles in the future.”

Boston-based Thermo Fisher employs 7,800 people across North Carolina, including in Asheville, Durham, Raleigh, Greenville and High Point. Company officials said 46 employees work in Mebane with plans to hire over 100.

The facility can produce 43 million pipette tips a year, they said during Thursday’s tour.

Robots, workers focus on quality

Employees and visitors donned black lab coats, goggles and other protective gear before entering the massive “clean room” Thursday, where robotic arms in big glass boxes injected plastic into the molds. Each piece was pressed into the desired shape, before being labeled and photographed by one of 12 cameras.

Each injection molding machine can produce about 19,000 tips an hour, a tour guide said.

Other robots check for defects, removing and replacing pipette tips and kits that don’t make the cut, before dropping them into totes that employees move to a central staging area. Each one has a radio-frequency identification tag to prevent cross-contamination.

“A single rack of pipette tips produced here might touch the hands of researchers in Nairobi, Boston or São Paulo, each one using them to advance science,” said Erica Hirsch, president of Thermo Fisher.

“One of our customers, a leading gene and protein therapy company based here in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, has long relied on our pipettes and clip tips in their quality control and research processes,” she said. “Soon, those same tools will be made here in Mebane, supporting a customer at the cutting edge of life-saving medicine.”

Attractive to business, new residents

Stein called the facility “a shining example of how public-private partnerships can rebuild American manufacturing.” He noted that CNBC just named North Carolina the top state in the nation for business — the third time in four years the state earned the honor.

More than 840 life science companies and 2,500 related companies in the state provide over 225,000 jobs, Stein said. The industry generates $88.3 billion in annual economic activity for the state, $12 billion in pharmaceutical exports, and $2.5 billion in state and local revenues, he added.

Thermo Fisher’s Mebane facility will also produce a lighter environmental impact, achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, said Sandy Pound, Thermo Fisher vice president and chief communications officer.

She noted the company is recruiting skilled workers from across the region and growing partnerships with local community colleges and state universities.

But it was Mebane’s quality of life that attracted them, she said.

Mayor Ed Hooks echoed those remarks, saying previous residents built the foundation for a better future.

“It is the warmth of our neighborhoods, the ingenuity of our workforce, the possibility of our people that make the city a place where businesses flourish and families thrive,” Hooks said. “Growth and location are the framework, but quality of life is the heart.”

Buckhorn commerce district growing

Orange County and Mebane officials have worked together for over 20 years to bring more industry and distribution centers to the Buckhorn economic development district, located south of Interstates 85/40 between Buckhorn Road and the interstate split.

The district, roughly 900 acres identified in 1981, remained undeveloped until water and sewer lines were installed several years ago.

Japanese candy maker Morinaga was the first company they landed, opening in 2013 and currently expanding.

It was followed by Medline, which opened a medical supply distribution center in 2023 on West Ten Road, and Mid-Atlantic STIHL, which opened its regional distribution and training facility in April. North of the interstate, Swiss industrial equipment maker ABB expanded its operation to 600,000 square feet in 2019.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced its plans for Mebane in 2021, paying $41 million for the site, which has a second, 205,200-square-foot industrial building now being marketed.

More warehouses and distribution centers are underway, including across West Ten Road, where Greensboro-based R+L Carriers was approved last year to build a 135,950-square-foot trucking depot building on just over 82 acres, replacing the Buckhorn Jockey Lot & Flea Market.

Developer Al Neyer is also building a 115-acre light industrial park across Buckhorn Road, behind Petro Stopping Center, which is slated for a fire station and five light industrial and warehouse buildings.