Company Announcements

Mettler-Toledo announced in July the appointment of Elisha Finney to its Board, effective November 1. Most recently, she served as CFO of Varian Medical Systems.

Mettler-Toledo’s second quarter Lab sales grew 9% in local currency, 7% in US dollars, to make up 49% of total sales (see Bottom Line), or $320.3 million. The Troemner (see IBO 7/31/16) acquisition contributed 3% in local currency, 2% in US dollars, to Lab sales growth. The company reported good growth in sales of balances, analytical instruments and pipettes.

In July, Halma named Inken Braunschmidt to the newly created position of chief innovation and digital officer. She previously served as chief innovation officer at renewable energy firm Innogy.

Halma named Marc Ronchetti, group financial controller, as group finance director, in July.

In July, Agilent Technologies presented a 2017 Agilent Early Career Professor Award to Dr. Gary J. Patti, associate professor, Department of Chemistry Arts and Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis. He was selected due to his contributions to the detection of metabolomics changes in whole organisms, and their utility for drug discovery, early detection, characterization and surveillance of cancer as well as other diseases and conditions.

Agilent Technologies announced in July the opening of a new €50 million ($57 million) Agilent Customer and Technology Center at the Agilent campus in Waldbronn, Germany.

In July, Agilent Technologies elected Hans E. Bishop to its Board. He is the cofounder and CEO of Juno Therapeutics.

In July, Control Engineering Asia reported that Agilent Technologies plans to invest SGD 85 million ($62.5 million) over five years to expand its manufacturing and research facility in Singapore. The project will add 30,000 ft² (2,787 m²) and around 100 new positions.

Merck KGaA Life Science announced in July that it plans to consolidate manual filling and distribution of nonregulated lab chemicals and reagents from its Darmstadt, Steinheim and Hohenbrunn, Germany, and Buchs, Switzerland, sites into a central distribution center in Schnelldorf, Germany. The company will invest €90 million ($102 million) to develop manual filling capability and increase capacity at the Schnelldorf site, and further develop capabilities at the Darmstadt and Buchs sites and a site in Molsheim, France. The Hamburg, Germany, site will continue to operate. Four sites in Germany will be relocated and closed by 2022, affecting 200 positions. Merck Life Science has 65 production sites and 130 distribution centers worldwide.

GE named Emmanuel Ligner as president and CEO of GE Healthcare Life Sciences in July.  He previously served as general manager of GE Healthcare Life Sciences’ Core Imaging  business.

GE Healthcare reported second quarter sales for Life Sciences grew 8% organically, according to GE’s conference call. Life Sciences orders rose 5% on an organic basis, with bioprocess orders up 5%.

Endress+Hauser opened a €4.5 million ($5.2 million), 32,292 ft² (3,000 m²) sales office near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced in a July SEC filing the appointment of Mark P. Stevenson as executive vice president and COO, effective August 1. He replaces Thomas W. Loewald, who will resign effective September 1.

In July, Metrohm named LS Scientific as a distributor for Nigeria.

In July, Avantor Performance Materials opened a new 27,000 ft² (2,508 m²) life sciences research center in Bridgewater, New Jersey, to assist pharmaceutical customers with upstream and downstream processes.

Biotage announced in July the formation of a direct sales organization for Italy. Biotage’s former distributor for the country was StepBio. Separately, the company announced it expects to open an Indian subsidiary next year.

In July, Waters announced in an SEC filing that Rohit Khanna resigned from his position as senior vice president, Applied Technology, effective July 21. He will continue to serve as executive vice president and a member of the executive committee until December 31, 2017.

Sartorius’ first half Lab Products & Services (LPS) revenues grew 22.1% in constant currency, around 7% organically, to €193.2 million ($212.3 million), or 27% of total sales (see Bottom Line). LPS orders rose 21.1% in constant currency to €195.0 million ($214.3 million). LPS sales in the EMEA, the Americas and Asia Pacific rose 15.1%, 47.5% and 17.2% in constant currency to make up 48%, 25% and 27% of LPS revenue, respectively. The company confirmed its guidance for 2017 LPS sales growth of 20%–24%.

In its 2016 annual report, HORIBA reported additional details about its Scientific Instruments & Systems (SI), and its Process & Environmental Instruments & Systems (P&E) businesses (see IBO 4/15/17). By application, molecular and microanalysis, optical components, elemental analysis, particle characterization, water quality analysis and other accounted for 38%, 20%, 19%, 10% and 4% of SI 2016 revenues, respectively. Raman spectroscopy accounted for 22% of segment sales, while pH meters represented 9%. Japan, the Americas, Asia and Europe represented 29%, 25%, 24% and 22% of SI sales, respectively. For the P&E division, stack gas analysis, water quality analysis, other, air pollution analysis respectively represented 27%, 32%, 18% and 12% of 2016 HORIBA P&E sales. Stack gas analyzers made up 36% of segment sales, and water quality analyzers accounted 32%. Regionally, Japan accounted for 54% of sales, with the Americas, Asia and Europe representing 18%, 16% and 12%, respectively.

Product Introduction

Shimadzu introduced in April the EDXIR-Holder, a sample holder/storage container for use with both ED-XRF and FTIR. Designed for small samples, the EDXIR-Holder can be used with both ED-XRF and FTIR without having to move the sample.