Adding to its already hefty local presence, medical manufacturer Gambro intends to add at least 250 employees to its Lakewood campus by 2009.
The company, based in Stockholm, Sweden, has its U.S. headquarters in Lakewood and also said Thursday it will invest $16 million over the next five years to reconfigure its manufacturing space and purchase major new equipment.
Gambro employs about 1,500 people on its 47-acre Lakewood campus.
The majority of the new jobs will be in manufacturing.
The average salary would probably fall between $40,000 and $50,000, according t0 Preston Gibson, president and chief executive of the Jefferson Economic Council.
“They’re one of our largest employers, and we’re thrilled they’re expanding here,” he said. “At a time when so many companies are courted out of our state by competitor states, it’s really wonderful to see a homegrown company expand locally.”
In 1990, Gambro acquired Cobe Laboratories Inc., which had been in Lakewood since 1967.
The company’s two main local units are Gambro Blood Component Technology, which specializes in the automated collection, separation and purification of blood components, and Gambro Renal Products, which manufactures kidney dialysis systems.
“Both major business units on the Lakewood campus are anticipated to grow quite a bit over the next few years,” said Gambro spokesman Ed Eggers.
A third unit, Gambro Healthcare U.S., which operates more than 565 dialysis centers nationally, is in the process of being sold to El Segundo, Calif.-based DaVita Inc. for $3 billion. It employs about 250 people, most of whom are at a separate Lakewood site.
Gambro’s application for a $126,316 personal-property rebate from Jefferson County will be voted on by county commissioners Tuesday.
The company said it plans to spend the $16 million on the expansion of clean rooms, as well the purchase of new equipment such as disposable manufacturing lines and new molding machines.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
