NewAge investing to boost medical division

With demand skyrocketing for medical tubing and components, including those used in ventilators and vaccine testing, NewAge Industries Inc. has invested $25 million in a new facility just 15 minutes from its Southampton, Pa., headquarters.

The tubing and hose manufacturer will collaborate with two other specialty design companies in the renovation of a 90,000-square-foot existing manufacturing facility it acquired in Warrington, Pa., just a few miles southeast of its headquarters. The facility is expected to double the capacity for NewAge Industries, parent company of AdvantaPure.

NewAge-AdvantaPure will work with Australia-based CleanSpace Modular LLC for medical respirators and Pennsylvania-based Genesis AEC with specialty architecture and construction to design and install the new clean room and equipment. NewAge expects the site to be ready for validation and testing by 2021.

"It took us a while to find the right property for our needs," said Ken Baker, NewAge Industries CEO. "But we're excited to get this important project started."

NewAge-AdvantaPure is seeing demand skyrocket for its medical products, specifically for platinum-cured silicone and TPE tubing and assemblies used in vaccine development, ventilators and laboratories. Baker expects this to continue within the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

"We are supplying tubing, hose and molding assemblies for all the major biotech and pharma companies who are manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine or treatment," he said. "We are under Operation Warp Speed for priority of COVID-19 orders."

The Warrington manufacturing facility is expected to be one-stop shopping for NewAge-AdvantaPure customers, with raw materials coming in the front door and end products—such as silicone and thermoplastic elastomer hose and tubing—will exit out the back. Both the platinum-cured silicone and the TPE used by NewAge-AdvantaPure are sourced in the U.S., Baker said.

Baker said the production line will see raw material come in receiving and placed into inventory in an "air locked" clean room. The raw material then is mixed on a two-roll mixer, and the mixed material is fed into an extruder. The finished tubing then comes out of the extruder and is doubled bagged, sealed and labeled.

The tubing, fitting or hose clamps then are placed into a gaylord box, which is taken to a warehouse to be picked for orders.

The clean room in Warrington ultimately will house tubing extrusion equipment, mold presses, assembly, packaging and inspection areas. Besides silicone and TPE, other raw materials used by NewAge-AdvantaPure include polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, latex, fluoropolymers and nylon.

All of the extruders, coilers, blow-off tables and mixers are American made, Baker added.

"Plus, we have a Verigenics division which supplies gamma-stable radio frequency identification tags and systems for tracking of assets or medical devices," Baker said.

The facility will be ISO 9001:2015 certified, according to a NewAge statement.

CleanSpace CEO George Wiker said he appreciates that NewAge selected his team to develop this critical project and expand their market supply.

"The collaboration with Genesis is important to delivering a comprehensive solution to NewAge, so they may continue to be a leader in their market," Wiker said.

Genesis President Norman Goldschmidt said the project is "essential to the developing cell and gene therapy markets as well as evolving biotechnology."

"It's always exciting to be engaged with companies at the forefront of emerging technology, whether it be delivering new therapies or new equipment and devices," he said.

The AdvantaPure high-purity products group was launched 20 years ago within NewAge Industries, and demand for its tubing and single-use molded components has been rising ever since, peaking during the pandemic.

The company said it is now hiring at both its Southampton and Warrington locations.

"As helpful as the unemployment bonus was for people who were laid off, it actually made it harder for us to hire," Baker said. "The CARES Act provided a boost that allowed many people to delay their job searches."

The CEO said the company is reaching out to find new employees via newspapers and online job sites, including Pennsylvania's CareerLink unemployment site. NewAge-AdvantaPure also is using social media, job fairs, referrals and a mobile digital billboard to advertise jobs in manufacturing, engineering, sales, quality control and warehousing.

And the company is 100 percent employee-owned, which occurred in 2019.

"We've got signs up about job opportunities at our Southampton facility and our new manufacturing facility in Warrington," Baker said. "And our benefits are amazing."

The company offers employee ownership as part of its retirement plan, profit sharing, a 401(k) plan with a contribution from the company, tuition reimbursement, paid time off and health insurance. And for most of its manufacturing positions, NewAge-AdvantaPure does its own training.

"Job seekers just need the desire to work with a growing, very successful American company that's making products to help fight the virus," Baker said.

Learn more about NewAge Industries-AdvantaPure's employment opportunities at newageindustries.com/employ.asp.

Founded in 1954, NewAge Industries services customers worldwide. The company said it is a solar-powered, zero landfill organization committed to minimizing environmental impact.