Fredericton Company Hiring 15 To Fulfill Federal Testing Kit Contract
FREDERICTON – LuminUltra plans to hire up to 15 people and expand its facilities in Fredericton, as it ramps up the production of chemicals used for COVID-19 tests across Canada.
The molecular biology diagnostics company recently received a contract from the federal government to provide 500,000 tests per week to health labs across the country. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced LuminUltra’s role in his daily update to press on April 15.
“We’ve been doing exactly the same types of testing for close to 20 years now,” says CEO and chairman Pat Whalen. “But we have a different area of focus. Our focus was in the environmental [area], testing water and wastewater, and air and surfaces for different types of bacteria.”
But when the government in March called on Canadian businesses to help deliver critical health supplies in the fight against the coronavirus, Whalen said his company “responded within about an hour.”
In about two days, LuminUltra was in touch with the Public Health Agency of Canada, who inquired about the company’s capabilities to make the chemicals needed for COVID-19 tests nationwide.
“A little over three weeks now, here we are ramping up to that half a million per week target and we’ve already begun shipping some of those tests across Canada,” Whalen said.
LuminUltra develops and sells “millions” of testing kits globally every year, he said. Its largest markets being the U.S. and Europe, while Canada has traditionally been a small market for the company.
The company’s core clients are in essential services like drinking water facilities, power generation, and oil refineries, among others. So with the new federal government contract, it’s business as usual and more.
“We’re maintaining production and maintaining our fulfillment to our existing customer base and adding this into the mix as well,” Whalen said. “It’s just an honour and source of pride for all of us to actually be able to play this kind of a role in combating a pandemic in Canada.”
For the COVID-19 test kits, LuminUltra supplies the chemicals needed to get the swab samples ready to go into a machine that would then determine the presence of the virus.
The company is “big enough” and the technology is similar enough to its other products that it can integrate the increased production at its existing facilities in Fredericton and rely on its current roster of staff.
“But we’re also making sure that we have provisions to be able to ramp that number up if asked. We’re in the process of securing some new facilities, equipment, and we are also posting for new roles in the company,” Whalen said. “We’re looking to hire about 10 to 15 new people over the next little while to add to the existing 75 that we already have around the world.”
The testing kits are made in Fredericton, so the expansions and hires will take place there, too.
Whalen said he can’t speculate whether the company will continue providing tests for the healthcare sector like this after the pandemic, but they’re focused on delivering on the contract for the next year.
“[We’re] in awe of the people at the Public Health Agency of Canada who have been working tirelessly, burning the candle at multiple ends for weeks and months,” he said. “At this point, for us to be able to play this role alongside them is a privilege. And we’re looking forward to delivering on that commitment.”