Company Announcements

Blacktrace announced in November 2018 that it has opened a new office in Kanagawa, Japan, doubling its sales team.

Dr. Barthold Piening joined QIAGEN’s Executive Committee in December 2018 as the new senior vice president, head of Global Operations. His experience includes positions at STADA, ALTANA Pharma, Nycomed and Takeda.

Xylem’s fourth quarter 2018 sales for its Test segment grew 2% organically. Full-year Test sales increased 4% organically to $344 million to make up 23% of its Measurement & Control Solutions revenue (see IBO 1/31/19).

In January, Shimadzu announced plans to build the ¥8.6 billion ($7.8 million) 161,459 ft² (15,000 m²) SHIMADZU Future Collaboratory at its Technology Research Laboratory in Keihanna Science City, Japan. The new lab will focus on several core themes, including AI, innovative biotechnology, brain science and the five senses. Construction on the facility is scheduled to last from July 2019 through August 2020.

In February, Eppendorf named Thomas Heydler, CEO of software firm Definiens, as a member of its Supervisory Board, succeeding Michael Schroeder, who resigned for personal reasons.

In February, Agilent Technologies presented its Agilent Thought Leader Award to Monash University Professors Paul Bonnington and Kimbal Marriott in support of their innovative research into data analytics.

Agilent Technologies named in February Diether Lambrechts, PhD, as a winner of its Agilent Thought Leader Award in support of his research in cancer genomics. Dr. Lambrechts directs the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology in Leuven, Belgium, and is a professor of human genetics at KU Leuven. His lab focuses on the discovery of genetic or epigenetic markers, either as susceptibility factors for cancer treatment development, prognostic markers to improve the molecular genetic annotation of cancer or markers for targeted cancer therapies.

For the fiscal first quarter ending in December 2018, Biosciences revenues within Becton, Dickinson’s Life Sciences segment declined 2.8%, but was up 3.6% on a currency neutral basis, to $281 million. Sales were led by research reagents and new instruments, partially offset by the unfavorable timing of tenders in EMA.

In February, Science Exchange, a provider of R&D services, announced a strategic partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific’s services business through a new online services marketplace.

Illumina named Sue Siegel to its Board effective February 5. She is Chief Innovation Officer at GE and CEO of GE Ventures. She previously served as president of Affymetrix.

In February, Australia’s University of Melbourne signed a memorandum of understanding with Illumina focused on genomics-based biomedical and clinical research of cancer.

Mettler-Toledo’s fourth quarter 2018 Lab sales rose 7%, excluding currency effects, to make up 52% of total revenues, or $425.4 million (see IBO 2/15/19), with strong growth for analytical instruments, pipettes and process analytics, as well as in China. For 2018, Lab revenue rose 9% in local currency, 11% in US dollars, to 51% of sales, or $1.5 billion. Biotix contributed 2% to segment growth (see IBO 11/15/17).

In February, Mettler-Toledo announced plans to name Marco Gadola to its Board in May. Mr. Gadola is CEO of Straumann.

Corning Life Sciences sales rose 5.8% in the fourth quarter 2018 to $238.0 million. Full-year segment revenue increased 7.6% to $946 million (see IBO 1/31/19). Labware and Cell culture products sales rose 2.3% and 15.5% to make up 57% and 43% of Life Sciences revenue, respectively. Full-year 2019 Life Sciences sales are expected to grow in the low to mid-single digits.

In February, PAC’s Rotterdam, the Netherlands, site moved into a new 30,139 ft² (2,800 m²) facility. The AC Analytical Controls and Antek product lines will be developed, produced and tested for customers at the PAC brand center.

In 2018, AMETEK’s Process and Analytical Instrumentation revenue totaled $2,120 million to represent 70% of the company’s EIG’s business (see IBO 2/15/19).

Hitachi High-Technologies announced that Shinji Sato, senior vice president and executive officer, CSO and CMO, will be named representative executive officer, executive vice president and executive officer in April.