Press Release
As the new Tyco Healthcare plant manager, Darrell Aherron has his work cut out for him.
By July, 10,000 square feet will be added onto the building – an expansion project that also will result in up to 40 new jobs. The investment related to the expansion will be close to $30 million.
“There are two pieces of the expansion itself,” Aherron said. “The first piece is there are two new products coming to the Norfolk facility. The second piece is just growth. We have a nice growth pattern and the products just continue to increase in sales.”
The exact number of new jobs will be determined by the volume of new product that’s sold, Aherron said.
One of the new products, called a “luer lock” syringe, will go into production in the coming weeks.
The addition of other new equipment will be completed by March or April of next year.
Details of the other new product line are being kept confidential for the time being.
The process, which took about six to eight months to develop, involved a lot of monitoring of growth patterns.
“We look forward to see what the sales are going to do to ensure that we are going to have the capacity to meet our customers’ needs,” Aherron said.
“When you look at the growth, when you look at the new products and everything, you’re talking about a little less than $30 million into this facility,” Aherron said. “And to me, growing up in a small town, I know any type of investment in an area like that says a lot about an organization and the people who work there and the future of the organization,” he said.
Before July, Aherron is working on preparing the plant’s associates for the expansion. “That’s my initial focus, to make sure everybody is prepared. Our training systems, our hiring systems, other things that when we have 30 to 40 people come into the organization, we can be prepared to hit the ground running and understand our culture,” Aherron said.
As the new plant manager, he is enthusiastic to be part of positive changes for the plant. “It really is exciting. It’s rare that you have the opportunity to really bring in something that’s going to not only mean so much to the community, but it’s going to mean so much to the market,” Aherron said. “It’s exciting to be able to do something that is a growth in the business.”
- Story Courtesy of the Norfolk Daily News
