Columbus plant to expand, add 75 jobs

[eomaha]

Columbus plant set to expand

Becton, Dickinson and Co. has committed to a $50 million expansion in Columbus, Neb., after reaching an agreement with the city to close a stretch of 12th Avenue.

The expansion by the medical products manufacturer will create 75 new jobs, including line workers and technical and managerial staff, the company said. Becton, Dickinson has 1,100 employees at two existing Columbus facilities.

The 75,000-square-foot expansion will include two production lines for prefilled syringes and facilities for a sterilization process that will let the company fulfill its sterilization needs internally instead of outsourcing that work.

The company will build the facility on two parcels that will be merged following the removal of a stretch of 12th Avenue.

Steve Bohnet, plant manager for BD Medical Surgical Systems in Columbus, said the decision by Columbus Mayor Gary Giebelhaus and the City Counsel to allow the removal of part of the street led the company to select the Columbus site.

"Prior to the agreement to vacate 12th Avenue, expansion was limited because we did not have the room to extend our production lines or add new ones," Bohnet said. "With this land, we can do both and still maintain the controlled environment that our sterile products require."

Giebelhaus said he was "elated" by the company's decision to continue expanding in Columbus.

"The marriage of the city of Columbus and BD is one that began over 50 years ago and continues to grow stronger. BD's commitment to invest another $50 million certainly shows . . . the kind of ethic our workforce has," he said.

The expansion will be part of the company's BD West site. The two production lines will be expanded from the existing facility. They will connect to a new sterilization building, which will be built on property that is now on the other side of 12th Avenue.

Bohnet said the agreement also allows for further expansion of the plant in the future.

Construction on the two new manufacturing lines is expected to be finished by early 2006.