Biomedical Polymers could double production in Sterling
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Biomedical Polymers has opened in a former SMC facility in Sterling.
Biomedical Polymers and its division BMP Medical has officially opened its 80,000-square-foot facility in Sterling after moving from a 24,000-square-foot plant in Gardner. The company purchased the former SMC Limited building in June for $5.1 million. President Michael Faulkner spoke to WBJ about the future of the company in its new location.
What does the company make in Sterling?
We provide medical disposables into the medical distribution chain. We also do custom injection molding for the medical and diagnostics field.
When did the facility open?
Officially, it opened in January. We were moving in from August on. We did a phased move in with things that we could move over. It was staged so there wasn’t a huge shutdown for customers.
How many employees work in Sterling?
Roughly 70.
How did that number grow from when the company was based in Gardner?
We probably have five to six more here right now. We might be up to 75. We’re still working through some back orders and things like that should be cleared up in the next week or so.
Are there plans to hire more?
We currently have a footprint for 20 injection molding machines. We’ve designed another molding room to fill the facility and our capacity would be 40 total injection molding machines. In a two-to-five-year window we will build the next room and add people as we go.
What does this space now allow the company to do?
Every department we had needed more room from quality, packaging, molding, printing and all secondary operations we do. This really has opened up our footprint to give us the capacity to double the business that we have.
Why wasn’t that possible in Gardner?
We had a very good relationship with Gardner, but it was space. To build a brand new building is a pretty monumental project and cost. From the timeline and financial perspective, this fell into our plans very nicely.
Did BMP consider moving to Worcester?
One of the big things about moving that far is your really disturb your employee base. Since we were located in Gardner, we really wanted to stay relatively close. Anybody could buy the best equipment out there, but having the staff to rely on is the key factor in any business.
Were there any other factors to staying close to Gardner?
We have a lot of vendors and a lot of support companies around this area for plastics and toolmakers. We really have a very good supporting cast of vendors we use.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Staff Writer Zachary Comeau.
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