VWR opened its facility on Riggin and Plaza Drive in Visalia. Before the start of the work day, employees, managers and civic leaders celebrated the opening of VWR's newest facility in Visalia.
Paul Dummas said, "To be able to do it in the heart of California in the Central Valley in Visalia is a great opportunity for us."
VWR is a global distributor of lab supply and services. The half million square foot building took two years to complete, and being the size of eight football fields, it's the company's largest facility.
Senior VP VWR Ed Borger said, "We know we needed to upgrade and have more capacity. We ran a model, around the logistics based on where our customers are, where our suppliers are and it pointed to the Central Valley area."
And the grand scale of the facility translates into many jobs.
Distribution Manager Chris Jensen said, "I'm a local here in town, and for me to have a job in a town with a great company like this is phenomenal."
Jensen of Visalia is one of 93 new hires. As the distribution manager, he makes sure all ordered lab supplies are received, packaged, and safely shipped out, all in the name of science.
"We sell products to the company's doing research, it could be the company looking for a cure to cancer, could be the local college doing research in their laboratory."
And the above-minimum wage jobs are full-time. The company is looking to expand and hire more workers locally. Job growth that has already put people back to work.
Visalia Mayor Amy Shuklian said, "The employees, I asked them, raise their hand if they were unemployed prior to this opening, and a lot of them did."
