Synergy plans opening for Petaluma sterilization lab

PETALUMA - Synergy Health, which provides electron-beam sterilization services to medical products makers, plans to open its 31,000-square-foot south Petaluma facility in October.

The plant, located on 10 acres at 3200 Lakeville Hwy., will have about 10 employees initially.

The company opened its sterilization facility for a tour at the end of June. The plant will initially have more than 2 million cubic feet of capacity with one electron beam. Another beam could be added as demand increases. Currently, North Bay medical-device makers must send their products out of the area for sterilization.

The Synergy building is part of a campus envisioned for medically related companies, said Jim Happ, president of Petaluma medical device–maker Labcon. Labcon owns the property where Synergy will be located.

In total, the Labcon-owned property has two buildings totaling 71,000 square feet. A new building will add 40,000 square feet for warehousing. The facility needed about $6 million of improvements, Mr. Happ said, plus another $5 million worth of site improvements.

Synergy Health, based in Swindon, England, about 100 miles west of London, has worldwide operations in several continents, and overall revenue of about $650 million. The company grew more than 5 percent in the past year. In the Americas, Synergy has four plants in the United States, including one in San Diego, and another in Costa Rica, with some 150 employees total.

Synergy Health’s electron-beam-sterilization technology involves accelerating electrons in an electron gun and beaming them through boxes on a carrier. In typical electron-beam applications, a magnetic optical system is used to control the way the electron beam hits its target.

“It’s a lot cleaner than steam” sterilization techniques and is done without water, Mr. Happ said. “It’s way cleaner and safer.”

Labcon, which has 220 employees in Petaluma and revenue of $34 million, also has a 127,000-square-foot manufacturing plant at 3700 Lakeville Hwy. in Petaluma, about half a mile away.

Labcon is a subsidiary of Helena Laboratories, with headquarters in Beaumont, Texas. Labcon makes pipettes and other laboratory supplies. The company was founded in 1959 in Marin County.

Sterilization facilities in Petaluma could serve companies and health organizations in the county that now send equipment out of the county to be sterilized.

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