Distek, Inc., welcomed Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno to the office expansion celebration of the New Jersey headquarters of Distek, Inc., a leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical laboratory testing equipment.
The Lt. Governor was joined by Distek owners Gerry and Pearl Brinker, President Jeff Brinker, Labor Commissioner Harold J. Wirths, Distek executives and employees, and many other distinguished guests as she performed the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Distek’s office expansion.
“Through ingenuity and hard work, Distek has become an industry leader and a key supplier to many other major companies in the state,” said Lt. Governor Guadagno. “We join Distek in celebrating its expansion, the entrepreneurial spirit that made the company successful and the Garden State’s manufacturing heritage, which will thrive for as long as we keep expanding the business-friendly policies put forward by this Administration.”
The expansion took over a year to complete and increased the facility’s total square footage by more than a third. The entire facility was modernized, with the company adding a large training center to enhance its product offerings and to develop the facility into a hub for industry education.
Distek, which employs mostly workers from the Garden State, has been upgrading the skills of its employees through two training grants provided by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Issued under the Skills4Jersey program, the grant is designed to offer training assistance to businesses and employers involved in the major industry sectors driving the Garden State economy.
“Distek is part of New Jersey’s important Advanced Manufacturing industry cluster, and like many other businesses, it was forced to close for an entire week by Sandy. That meant lost sales and increased overtime costs as they worked to catch up. Our Skills4Jersey grant is allowing the company to train its workers in disaster and business continuity planning to prepare for future adversities, as well as improve on skills training offered under a grant we issued to the company last year,” said Labor Commissioner Harold J. Wirths.
The training grant enabled Distek to train workers in what are known as lean manufacturing techniques to improve efficiencies. The new grant is allowing the company to expand that training by focusing on supply chain management, business process analysis and strategies designed to improve processing and minimize defects. The company also is planning to hire as many as eight new workers.
“For two years, now, we have been able to better educate our entire staff thanks to the training grants the Administration of Governor Christie provided our company. Distek also has made a significant investment on upgrades and enhancements to our facility, implemented a new software package to run the entire business and developed lean initiatives for more efficient manufacturing. All Distek employees have attended many training courses and continue to do so,” said Jeff Brinker, President of Distek, Inc.