Governor Cooper Announces Biotech Manufacturing Equipment Company ABEC Will Create 251 Jobs in Wilson County

ABEC, Inc., a global leader providing engineered process solutions and services for biotech manufacturing will create 251 jobs in Wilson County, Governor Roy Cooper announced today. The company will invest $11 million in the City of Wilson to establish another ISO-7 cleanroom and increase single-use disposable container (DC) manufacturing capacity for its Custom Single Run (CSR®) biomanufacturing solutions.

"Biomanufacturers that must operate at the highest levels of precision and quality choose North Carolina time and time again,” said Governor Cooper. “Biotech is a statewide industry, and ABEC will find the technical expertise and outstanding workforce they need in Wilson County.”

ABEC, with headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1974 and serves customers representing the majority of the world’s pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Many of today’s leading therapies are manufactured by processes and equipment engineered, manufactured, installed and serviced by ABEC. The company’s project in Wilson County will expand current capacity, enabling ABEC to continue offering customers the fastest DC lead times in the industry. Despite unprecedented supply-chain shortages, ABEC has remained steadfast in its ability to provide reliable delivery timelines to support the large-scale, single-use manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutic proteins.

“ABEC’s expansion in Wilson, NC supports the long-term growth of the biopharmaceutical industry,” said Scott Pickering, ABEC CEO and Chairman. “The 50,000 square foot facility will include state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, attracting bioprocess expertise and technical talent to join the ABEC team.”

Although wages for the new jobs will vary depending on the position, the average salary will be $52,613, above the current average wage in Wilson County of $47,863. The state and local areas will see an additional impact of more than $13 million each year from the new payroll.

"North Carolina’s deliberate focus to develop a workforce for the biotechnology industry continues to pay off in choices like ABEC’s decision today,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “As our First in Talent strategic plan makes clear, we will continue to invest in education and specialized training programs that make our state the number one place to do business in the country.”

ABEC’s project in North Carolina will be facilitated, in part, by a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) approved by the state’s Economic Investment Committee earlier today. Over 12 years, the project is estimated to grow the state’s economy by $455 million. Using a formula that takes into account the new tax revenues generated by the new jobs, the agreement authorizes the potential reimbursement to the company of up to $2,008,000, spread over 12 years. Payments for all JDIGs only occur following performance verification by the departments of Commerce and Revenue that the company has met its incremental job creation and investment targets. JDIG projects result in positive net tax revenue to the state treasury, even after taking into consideration the grant’s reimbursement payments to a given company.

“We welcome ABEC to Wilson and the North Carolina BioPharma Crescent region,” said N.C. Senator Milton “Toby" Fitch, Jr. “Our community has worked hard to build the infrastructure and workforce programs to support life science companies, and it’s great to see one more business join our growing family of companies in this industry.”

“Many organizations and people in Wilson County and around the state have worked behind the scenes as ABEC evaluated its options for a new business location,” said N.C. Representative Linda Cooper-Suggs. “We’re thrilled the company has placed its confidence in us and everyone in our area will continue to support this company and its employees as they ramp up operations in our region.”

In addition to the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of N.C., other key partners in this project were the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Wilson County, the City of Wilson and the Wilson Economic Development Council.