No surprise the company didn't choose Wisconsin
By Joel Stinnett and Adam Sichko – Nashville Business Journal
Apr 13, 2021 Updated 41 minutes ago
One of two companies in the world that manufactures the specialized swabs used for Covid-19 tests is bringing production to Middle Tennessee.
Guilford, Maine-based Puritan Medical Products will invest $220 million to build a new manufacturing and distribution operation in Orlinda, the company and government officials announced Tuesday.
Puritan is expected to create 625 jobs over the next five years, which would make the company among the largest employers in Robertson County, about 35 miles north of Nashville. Puritan will receive an undisclosed amount of incentives from the state and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The move is the result of a $146.8 million Department of Defense contract awarded to Puritan earlier last month to expand its swab production, according to a news release. The Orlinda location will be Puritan’s third manufacturing facility — and, at the federal government's request, its first outside of Maine for the 103-year-old family business.
"We looked in Wisconsin, we looked in Texas, then we reached out to Tennessee," co-owner Timothy Templet said in an interview. "They treated us with a lot of good opportunities as far as locations. Just the whole economic development piece of Tennessee was just very opening. They just opened their arms and helped us. That's how we got to Orlinda."
Templet wanted a big-enough building that he could buy, not lease. Puritan is buying a more than 400,000-square-foot facility along I-65 that was formerly occupied by Dorman Products, Templet said. Puritan has retained Maine-based Cianbro to serve as general contractor for the work at 3150 Barry Drive.
The building is the ideal size, Templet said. The location works too: It's just four hours south of a major sterilization plant in Indiana, where Puritan's swabs will go before being shipped to customers.
By Joel Stinnett and Adam Sichko – Nashville Business Journal
Apr 13, 2021 Updated 41 minutes ago
One of two companies in the world that manufactures the specialized swabs used for Covid-19 tests is bringing production to Middle Tennessee.
Guilford, Maine-based Puritan Medical Products will invest $220 million to build a new manufacturing and distribution operation in Orlinda, the company and government officials announced Tuesday.
Puritan is expected to create 625 jobs over the next five years, which would make the company among the largest employers in Robertson County, about 35 miles north of Nashville. Puritan will receive an undisclosed amount of incentives from the state and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The move is the result of a $146.8 million Department of Defense contract awarded to Puritan earlier last month to expand its swab production, according to a news release. The Orlinda location will be Puritan’s third manufacturing facility — and, at the federal government's request, its first outside of Maine for the 103-year-old family business.
"We looked in Wisconsin, we looked in Texas, then we reached out to Tennessee," co-owner Timothy Templet said in an interview. "They treated us with a lot of good opportunities as far as locations. Just the whole economic development piece of Tennessee was just very opening. They just opened their arms and helped us. That's how we got to Orlinda."
Templet wanted a big-enough building that he could buy, not lease. Puritan is buying a more than 400,000-square-foot facility along I-65 that was formerly occupied by Dorman Products, Templet said. Puritan has retained Maine-based Cianbro to serve as general contractor for the work at 3150 Barry Drive.
The building is the ideal size, Templet said. The location works too: It's just four hours south of a major sterilization plant in Indiana, where Puritan's swabs will go before being shipped to customers.
