HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WLVT) - In the business world, "cutting" isn’t a word that usually comes as good news.
But Monday morning, a ribbon cutting at Lehigh Valley Industrial Park IV brought local media and elected officials to welcome the expansion of Tyber Medical, an orthopedic device manufacturer.
"They've entered the market strong, and they're continuing to grow," said Don Cunningham, the president and CEO of Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC)
"It's a really big culmination of the hard work over the last seven years that our team has really put forth," said Tyber Medical president and CEO Jeff Tyber. "The big piece for this is about giving our employees really a collaborative space."
The expansion allows the company to go from producing 400,000 devices a year to two million, Tyber said.
"As we're adding more manufacturing equipment, we need skilled workforce to actually run it and make sure that making a good product, and it looks great," he said.
Tyber Medical has added 30 full-time employees as a result of the expansion and plans to hire even more.
"The job growth has been incredible, and it's really mixed skill sets," Cunningham said, "everything from Ph.D's doing research and development to manufacturing technicians to folks in the blue collar sector."
LVEDC says the Lehigh Valley is the country’s 50th-largest manufacturing center. Tyber Medical moved to the area in 2015, a decision which the commonwealth applauds.
"There are tremendous opportunities here in the Lehigh Valley, and I think that we really want to do what we can to help those come to fruition," said Pennsylvania Secretary of Community and Economic Development Dennis Davin, "and this is just a great example."
"This area has been long, deep history of manufacturing, and there's been a recent shift towards distribution-type of jobs," Tyber said. "It's been important to bring back good manufacturing jobs, a good labor market that can really facilitate those jobs as well."
The company plans to do most of its production in the new facility, Tyber said. Employees should be moved in over the next two weeks.