Biopharmaceutical equipment company ABEC in rapid growth mode

Tariffs mean a surge in business to a company with a Springfield manufacturing hub.

ABEC Inc., manufacturer of stainless-steel containers for biopharmaceutical production, is in growth mode, with its 55,000-square-foot Partnership Industrial Center East manufacturing facility looking to hire 100 new workers in the next six months, according to company officials.

While one of the stated goals of current U.S. tariff policy is to reshore domestic manufacturing of imported goods, for the most part, that has not materialized. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ mid-November jobs report reflected 67,000 lost factory jobs since tariffs were initiated by the Trump administration on April 2, as analyzed by the Center for American Progress.

ABEC Inc. is proving to be an exception, according to David Rideout, global director of marketing.

“A lot of biopharma is being pointed back to the U.S., and it’s created some huge growth opportunities for us,” he said.

The company is in a growth mode, said Matt Ryan, ABEC’s vice president of global services and leader of the Springfield site. He said 240 people are employed in the Springfield plant – globally there are about 650, Ryan said – and by the middle of June, he would like the Springfield number to be at 340.

“We want to do some massive, massive hiring and continue to work through a lot of the U.S.-based projects that we have coming our way – and that’s a huge, huge backlog for us right now.”

From its 55,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in PIC East, ABEC sends its specialized stainless steel pharmaceutical equipment throughout the world.

The focus of the factory is exclusively biopharmaceutical. Using ABEC vessels – built on the factory floor in Springfield, then shipped and reassembled in plants all over the world – pharmaceutical companies produce vaccines, antibodies, recombinant proteins and gene therapy products, according to ABEC’s website.

While the 51-year-old company is headquartered in the historic steel town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Springfield serves as its most active manufacturing hub. Smaller manufacturing facilities are located in Bethlehem, and Wilson, North Carolina, as well as two locations in Ireland. There is also a business development office in Shanghai, China.

ABEC officials declined to disclose revenue for the privately owned company. Estimates vary widely in online sources, with both Zoominfo and RocketReach pegging annual revenue at roughly $128.2 million.

Ryan said ABEC has about 75 clients worldwide, some with multiple locations.

Singular product
Company officials make the claim that ABEC is the only company in the world offering large-scale, stainless-steel single-use bioreactors designed for manufacturing medicines from living cells. The assertion is backed up by the trade publication BioPharmInternational.com, which points out that ABEC provides vessels sized greater than 2,000 liters, though the journal notes that adoption of single-use bioreactors is growing.

Within the vessels produced by ABEC, officials say, cells can be cultivated in a sterile, controlled environment to produce therapeutic proteins.

Most notably, the company produces customizable single-run vessels – CSRs, they’re called – that allow for the insertion of disposable containers within.

As ABEC officials explain, the disposable inserts permit efficient changes for the manufacturing that happens within the tanks, speeding up processes for their customers, who include some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturers, among them Eli Lilly and Co., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson. The receptacles are available in sizes up to 7,000 liters for liquid mixing systems and up to 6,000 liters for bioreactors, and the ABEC website says that even the largest disposable container can be installed by one operator in less than an hour.

Ryan said that typically, when a process is finished within a stainless-steel vessel, it must then be emptied and sterilized, but the CSR allows the old insert to be removed and disposed of and a new insert to be inserted. That means manufacturing can start up again immediately.

He added that ABEC is the only stainless-steel company in the Springfield area devoted exclusively to the biopharm industry.

A dip into the Springfield Business Journal archives shows 2009 reporting on other stainless-steel manufacturers serving the pharmaceutical industry. Paul Mueller is named, as are Stainless Technology and Custom Metalcraft. That coverage noted the companies were experiencing a dip in sales because of a drop in demand. Of course, COVID-19, still a decade in the future, would generate its own demand for products.

Unlike other local steel manufacturers, ABEC does biopharm and nothing else, Ryan said.

“We won’t do any holding tanks; we won’t do any food and beverage,” he said. “That allows us to focus on one standard, which is the highest, and not deviate up and down and cause any issues in manufacturing that way.”
Clients are all over the world, with work in India, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, China and elsewhere, Ryan said.

Ryan attributes the company’s growth to good customer relations.
“A lot of that is due to really good relationships with some really good customers,” he said. “We try to partner with those guys and create a solution for them that’s one, customizable, but two, meets all their needs.”

Workforce pride
A strong company culture is vital, Ryan said, noting that ABEC employees are proud of the important work they do.

He offered the example of a vaccine producer in India, struggling to meet the vaccine demands of the coronavirus pandemic in a country of 1.4 billion.

“It wasn’t a matter of if ABEC didn’t take the job someone else would step in,” Ryan said. “No one else could meet the timeline that was requested. We jumped in and within six months had some lifesaving equipment go into India that produced COVID vaccine. It undoubtedly saved lives and is credit to the great people that we have in Missouri that busted their butts and worked overtime to make that happen.”

The company has also been on the cutting edge of revolutionary Alzheimer’s disease medications.

“When these biopharmaceutical companies have a new drug in the pipeline that is lifesaving and cutting-edge, they need to partner with somebody who can help them in an extremely quick manner,” Ryan said. “That’s one of the great things about ABEC; when you ask us to hit a date, we commit to that date, and we partner with those guys to make that happen and help those companies achieve that quick execution.”

He added that many of ABEC’s associates have had loved ones impacted by Alzheimer’s, and some took very personal satisfaction making it possible for a company to produce a drug that stopped the progress of the disease.
Ryan said it’s exciting to work in a company that is always looking for the next innovation.

He added that flexibility is key, as is having a motivated workforce.

“We have guys that understand what our products mean out in the marketplace, and if that’s going from a 40-hour work week to a 50-hour work week or sometimes a 60-hour work week, they have that get-it-done mentality,” he said.

Rideout added that because ABEC is a private company, it can build capacity ahead of time to react to customers’ needs, rather than reacting to financial markets.

Rochelle Yoap, ABEC’s human resources manager, is the person who is charged with the task of onboarding 100 new workers in the next half-year. She said pay begins at $21 per hour for new workers who may be familiar with tools but have no experience in the field. ABEC will train, she said, noting the company has a work-to-learn program that allows people to skip trade school and learn skills on-site.

Yoap said salaries go up from there for skilled workers, like the many welders and grinders employed by ABEC, and benefits include three weeks of paid vacation from the start of employment and a 40% company contribution to 401(k) retirement plans.