EAG looks to increase local work after laboratory move

SALINA  —  Evans Analytical Group (EAG) is placing business opportunities in Central New York under a microscope after relocating its operations in the region to a larger space earlier this year.

The company moved its Syracuse–area laboratory, which specializes in materials characterization, from 6707 Brooklawn Parkway in DeWitt to 103 Commerce Blvd. in Salina in October. EAG did so to gain more space — jumping from about 12,000 square feet to 26,500 square feet — but now needs to grow the laboratory’s business to justify that additional size, according to Sam Jackins, operations director.

“Once you move into a new building, the pressure is on to increase the revenue,” he says. “We’re actually planning on a 10-percent increase next year, and I think that’s doable.”

EAG’s Salina lab focuses on trace-elemental analysis, meaning it can determine the purity of alloys and oxides, among other testing. Its equipment includes glow-discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS) instruments, electron microscopes, thermal-analysis equipment, and inductively coupled plasma equipment.

The lab’s clients include manufacturers, their vendors, and the mining industry. They ship samples to Central New York for EAG to test. Now the laboratory thinks upstate manufacturers could be a source of new work.

“We don’t have a lot of customers in the Syracuse area,” Jackins says. “There is industry here. But most of our customer base was from Japan, China.”

One of the ways EAG’s Syracuse lab hopes to increase its revenue is by identifying local high-tech manufacturing clients. Jackins says he’s working with the Manufacturers Association of Central New York to find local manufacturers that could use the lab’s services. The lab also scheduled an open house for Dec. 4 to show off its new facility.

That new laboratory includes about $1 million worth of new equipment EAG invested in its Syracuse operations over the last year, according to Jackins. It also features renovated space with freshly laid flooring, new employee locker rooms, and different areas for various testing equipment — including a vented room to prevent powders being tested from spreading throughout the facility.

EAG invested about $50,000 in the lab’s move and facility renovations, Jackins says. Its landlord at 103 Commerce Blvd., Syracuse–based Pemco Group, Inc., coordinated the work, he adds.

In addition to gaining more space with its move to Salina, EAG also added workers. It hired eight employees, giving it a total of 60 at the location. It runs two shifts during the week along with additional weekend operations.

The lab’s recently renovated location will give customers confidence in its abilities, according to Karol Putyera, its vice president of GDMS services.

“The professional environment sells,” he says. “It reflects a certain level of quality, professionalism, consistency. The instruments are scientific looking. The maintenance is clearly seen.”

EAG generates about $150 million in annual revenue companywide, according to Jackins. He declines to share revenue totals for the Salina laboratory.

It is one of EAG’s locations in nearly 20 cities worldwide. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara., Calif. and operates three groups — materials characterization, release to production, and Chemir Analytical Services, a provider of customized chemical analysis. EAG has materials characterization locations in the United States in Arizona, California, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Salina.

EAG’s international locations include China, France, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. The company has over 5,500 customers in the industrial, aerospace, solar, biomedical, pharmaceutical, chemical, consumer, and technology sectors.

The private-equity investment firm Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC owns EAG. Odyssey manages more than $2 billion in capital in three private-equity funds from its headquarters in New York City.

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com