Photo courtesy of Baxter

The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) and Aalto Scientific Ltd., a maker of controls, calibrators and other products for testing labs around the world, announced yesterday, April 24, that Aalto will create 80 jobs and invest $9 million at a new manufacturing facility in Eatonton, in Putnam County, to the southeast of Atlanta and just south of I-20. The project will be the first to locate at the 150-acre Rock Eagle Technology Park, where Aalto will construct a 76,000‐sq.-ft. production and warehouse facility and a 15,000‐sq.-ft. manufacturing facility to house subsidiary AUDIT MicroControls, Inc. GDEcD worked with the Putnam Development Authority to assist the company in relocating from California. While the announcement did not note a specific connection, Eatonton is only 40 miles from Covington, Ga., where Baxter Laboratories’ major complex, pictured above in January, is approaching completion.

The 10th annual Worthington BiO conference, held earlier this month in southwestern Minnesota, featured such speakers as Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, POET vice-president of corporate affairs Doug Berven and Medgene Labs’ chief science officer Alan Young. Presentations highlighted the combination of bio-resources such as corn and soybeans, supportive bioscience communities such as the University of Minnesota and the University of South Dakota and the presence of established bioscience businesses in the local area, including Newport Labs, the nation’s leading manufacturer of autogenous biologics, and Bioverse Inc., manufacturer of biodegradable products for algae control and other natural water treatments, both located in Worthington.

Southeastern Minnesota was also well represented by a panel featuring a representative from the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., discussing the clinic’s new Destination Medical Center project, a proposed multi-billion dollar economic development initiative. “I believe that the success of these local companies in the bioscience and medical business arenas is proof that Minnesota—and in particular, southwest Minnesota— is a welcoming and supportive environment for bio-businesses of all kinds,” said Abraham Algadi, Worthington Regional Economic Development Corporation manager and organizer of the event, noting the area’s strong ties to organizations throughout the state and its neighboring states.

Okay, okay, Netherlands is No. 6. That country’s Royal DSM this month continued the Southern Hemisphere growth that included the opening of its new cGMP facility for biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing in Brisbane, Australia, last fall, when it inaugurated its Fortitech Premixes nutrition products plant in Vadodara, Gujarat, India. The 10,000-sq.-m. (107,643-sq.-ft.) plant will serve food, beverage and pharmaceutical manufacturers “looking for fortification as a way to differentiate their products from their competition.” The new plant will service the South Asian market with its teams split between Delhi and Mumbai, as well as a business development group, based in Malaysia and an upcoming innovation center in Singapore. The initial employee headcount for this plant will be 29 full-time positions.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Alphonsus Stoelinga noted a curious balance: “India is the fifth largest source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Netherlands and vice versa the Netherlands are the fifth largest source of FDI for India.”

Irving, Texas–based Fluor Corp. announced April 10 that Grifols’ North Fractionation Facility in Clayton, N.C., was named the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) 2014 Facility of the Year for Project Execution. Fluor provided integrated engineering, procurement, construction management and front-end qualification for this 150,000-sq.-ft. plasma fractionation facility, which was built using modular construction techniques to meet an aggressive construction schedule, incorporate new centrifuge technology and expand existing plant utilities. Fluor-led projects have been chosen by ISPE for Facility of the Year awards three times over the past five years. Grifols completed its $4-billion takeover of RTP-based Talecris Biotherapeutics in June 2011.

“Fluor provides project management and execution excellence for pharmaceutical and biotech clients across the globe, and the Grifols blood plasma facility in North Carolina is a great example of successful outcomes,” said Juan G. Hernandez, president of Industrial Services for Fluor. “We provided Grifols with a single point of project accountability, continuity of intent and elimination of redundant project functions that resulted in a state-of-the-art facility.”

“Grifols has very high standards, and we can always rely upon the same high standards from Fluor in delivering our project execution needs,” said Detlef Kehm, Grifols vice president of engineering. “I am personally very pleased with ISPE’s independent validation of this superior project and with Fluor’s performance.”