Springdale-based NOWDiagnostics, manufacturer of blood test kits, has moved all of its plastic housing production from China to its home base in Arkansas. The company cited efforts to improve quality control and to bring additional jobs to the state as the primary reasons for the move.
“By moving all of our production to Arkansas, we have better control over the quality of our products, which is our chief concern,” said Kevin Clark, CEO of NOWDiagnostics.
The company said it added 12 jobs in the last year and is projected to add 12 more in 2016. These positions are all well above the state average pay as they are biotech-based positions, according to Liz Slape, corporate spokeswoman for NOWDiagnostics.
To pull off this move the company partnered with PolyTech Plastic Molding in Prairie Grove to create the housings for all of the tests. PolyTech Plastic Moldings said it continues to grow its business from several onshoring efforts as well as the Walmart U.S. Manufacturing Jobs initiative.
John McCutcheon, co-owner of Polytech Plastics, told Talk Business & Politics that his company added about 10 full-time workers bringing its employee count to 55 as of June 2015. The company said it plans to add a few more jobs throughout 2016.
“Having a partner just down the road whom we can visit anytime we want or need to has significantly improved our process from a logistical standpoint,” Clark said. “We are proud to be an Arkansas company, so it was important for us to support manufacturing jobs here in our home state.”
NOWDiagnostics manufactures and sells a line of blood-based tests that allow health care providers to conduct a one-step process that provides results in minutes using only a single drop of whole or capillary blood with no laboratory needed.
