Tánaiste officially opens CTL's new base in Birdhill

The demand for calibration of laboratory equipment for Covid-19 PCB testing over the past two years has had a silver lining for Birdhill with the relocation of the expanding company to the area.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, performed the official opening of a new 1,100 sq. metre premises for Calibration Technology Limited’s (CTL) at the Shannonside Business Park close to the village on Friday.

Brian Kelly, who came to Limerick from his native South Galway, “and never went home”, with his wife, Lynn, founded Calibration Technology Limited in 2005. The company had a workforce of just two, calibrating only auto-pipettes, and is now employing 22 at the new Birdhill premises with a projection to increase to a workforce of 30 in five years.

CTL, of which Brian Kelly is Managing Director, initially operated from premises at the National Technology Park, Castletroy, Limerick, and benefited from an increase of “at least 25%” in the services required for the calibration of scientific testing equipment for the major laboratories providing Covid-19 PCR samples testing, whilst its refrigerators are used by the HSE to store Covid-19 vaccines at low temperatures.

The attendance also included Deputies Kieran O’Donnell, and Michael Lowry, Senator Garrett Ahern, Cllr Dr Phyll Bugler and Georgina Hamilton-Logan, Zone director sales, UK and Ireland, Eppendorf.

Mr Varadkar said that his gaol is to help indigenous Irish companies to grow stronger, more productive and more resilient and described CTL as a brilliant example of a small start-up which has come a long way since its origin.

“It is now managed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eppendorf SE, a global leader in the manufacture of scientific laboratory equipment. I look forward to seeing CTL scale even greater heights in the years ahead,” he added.

Mr Kelly described it as “a proud day for me as founder of Calibration Technology Limited to see a company that started out in 2005 calibrating only auto-pipettes now having a diverse product range and capability, and a customer base that includes major companies in the pharmaceutical, life science and the food processing sectors as well as Government, clinical and academic laboratories.”

He added that the acquisition by the Eppendorf Group “has strengthened our quality reputation in the marketplace whilst our combined synergies have also enabled Eppendorf to expand its presence in Ireland.”

Mr Kelly added that the move to the new custom-designed building will enable it to escalate expansion plans.

The new Birdhill facility - a ten-fold increase in space - incorporates two laboratories where CTL’s engineers calibrate, validate, and repair all brands and models of pipettes/multi-channel pipettes including repeaters, burettes, bottle-top dispensers, and micro syringes as well as calibrating analytical balances and weights for the leading laboratories.

In 2016, CTL was acquired by the Eppendorf Group, which has subsidiaries in 28 countries with 5,000 employees and annual sales in excess of €1 billion.