Under New Owner, Nypro To Expand At Devens

Friday, September 20, 2013

Steven Jones-D'Agostino, GoLocalWorcester Business/News Contributor

Clinton-based Nypro Inc. is under new ownership that seeks to expand its Bay State manufacturing operations.

The new parent of Nypro Inc. has owned the Clinton-based manufacturer only since July 1. But Jabil Circuit Inc. is wasting no time in seeking to highly leverage its latest acquisition.

Nypro announced on September 19 that it is planning a major expansion of its Bay State manufacturing operations because of the rapidly growing demand for its health-care products. The firm is negotiating a lease for a 200,000-square-foot satellite manufacturing plant in the Devens Commerce Center, located about 13 miles north of Nypro’s Clinton plant. Previously, the Devens space was occupied by Evergreen Solar, a maker of solar-power equipment that went out of business in 2011.

On July 1, Jabil completed its acquisition of Nypro for $665 million. Jabil expects the combined entity to bolster its position in key markets such as health-care as well as expand its presence in packaging for customers in the food and beverage markets, household and personal-care industries. The Consumer Electronics portion of Nypro’s business is being integrated into Jabil’s Materials Technology Services unit.

About 10,000 Nypro employees have become Jabil employees. Jabil is retaining the Nypro trade name, and plans to use it to jointly market services to customers in the health-care and packaging markets.

Jabil provides electronics design, manufacturing and aftermarket product-management services to global electronics and technology companies. Its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol JBL.

From nylon hose to medical devices

Nypro is a $1.2-billion profitable business with operations around the world. Before being acquired by Jabil, the company ran an employee-stock-ownership plan - one of the few that allowed non-American workers.

Nypro started in the 1950s as a manufacturer of nylon hose- hence, the company's name. In the past decade or so, it has expanded into manufacturing injected-molded plastic casings and parts for medical devices. More more than 900 of its employees are in Massachusetts.

Gordon Lankton, who ran Nypro from the early '60s until about a decade ago and is now the company's chair, founded the Museum of Russian Icons in 2006 in Clinton. The museum bills its collection of more than 500 Russian icons and artifacts, spanning six centuries, as "the largest of its kind in North America, and one of the largest private collections outside Russia."

From army base to business community

After serving as the U.S. Army's New England headquarters for 79 years, Fort Devens was closed in 1996. With the endorsement of the voters in the host towns of Ayer, Harvard, and Shirley, and the approval of the state, the property was conveyed to MassDevelopment, a quasi-public economic development and real-estate agency tasked with stimulating economic investment across Mass.

MassDevelopment is redeveloping Devens by creating a sustainable and diverse residential and business community. With nearly 2,100 acres of open space and recreation lands, Devens offers opportunities for active and passive recreation to area residents.

Stimulating economic activity and job creation are key goals of MassDevelopment, which provides municipal services, education and environmental protection. The agency also made the infrastructure improvements needed to convert the former military installation into a planned community.

Devens has become a national model for military-base reuse.