Global life sciences company Eppendorf North America Inc. is expanding its Connecticut footprint with the debut of a new Enfield distribution center.
The German-based company manufactures and sells laboratory equipment and services for scientific research worldwide, and has been operating in Enfield for nearly 20 years.
The new center at 113 N. Maple St., built by Winstanley Enterprises, will enable Eppendorf to expand manufacturing efforts at its existing North American headquarters, at 175 Freshwater Blvd., while having a new state-of-the-art distribution center in the same town.
The two sites now employ 450 workers living in and near Enfield. Eppendorf has more than 5,000 employees globally, according to co-CEO Eva van Pelt, who was in Enfield on Tuesday to commemorate the company’s expansion.
Eppendorf’s revenues in the Americas grew by more than 50% in fiscal 2022; the region now makes up 37.5% of the company’s total revenue, she said. According to its 2021 annual report, the private company generated over $1 billion in revenue that year.
“Eppendorf has been on a growth trajectory that was given additional momentum by the high demand during the … pandemic,” van Pelt said. “(Coronavirus) vaccine developers such as Pfizer/BioNtech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson trusted Eppendorf’s products for their developments in the fight against COVID.”
“The pandemic showed us how much Eppendorf and our products are needed,” she said.
The company’s products range from pipettes, centrifuges, automated liquid handling and cell culture systems, to bioprocessing equipment used in academic and industrial research laboratories, including companies in the pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical and food industries.
Alexandra Daum, commissioner for the state Department of Economic and Community Development, said Germany is Connecticut’s largest and most significant trade partner. Connecticut shipped more than $2.1 billion in goods to Germany in 2022, according to the International Trade Administration.
Eppendorf has been a good business partner for the state, supporting job creation and Connecticut’s crucial life sciences industry, Daum said.
“Connecticut is one economic unit, we’re one corridor, so where industry is booming in one section of the state, that benefits another section of the state,” Daum said. “You all expanding here benefits our life sciences businesses in the Farmington area and New Haven area.”
“This is the kind of company we want here,” Daum continued.
Growing reach
Eppendorf was founded in 1945 in Hamburg, Germany, and has since expanded to other locations throughout North America, including in California, New York, and Canada, with subsidiaries in more than two dozen countries.
Aside from its Hamburg location, company officials said Enfield is the most critical location globally, representing about 30% of their manufacturing efforts and 90% of
North American distribution.
Eppendorf uses 238,000 square feet of the new North Maple site, with another 500,000 square feet occupied by dairy co-operative Agri-Mark, according to Adam Winstanley, principal of Winstanley Enterprises.
Eppendorf’s other Freshwater Boulevard location, which has been operational since 2004, will continue to serve as the company’s North American headquarters.
