Cleanroom manufacturer AES adding a second Pa. location
By DONNA ROVINS | The Pottstown Mercury
HARRISBURG — AES Clean Technology, a Montgomery Township-based designer, manufacturer and builder of cleanroom facilities, is expanding. The company will invest $14.2 million to open a new manufacturing facility in Manheim Borough, Lancaster County. It will be the second Pennsylvania location for the company.
The announcement about the expansion was made by Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday, Jan. 24. The company received a funding proposal from the Department of Community and Economic Development for a $485,000 Pennsylvania First grant and a $97,000 workforce development grant to help the company train workers.
AES Clean Technology has committed to creating at least 97 new jobs at the new facility over the next five years — and retaining 95 jobs at the company’s Montgomery township headquarters facility. “We are proud to expand upon our 35-year presence in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as we continue the mission of helping our pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients save lives through the therapies that they manufacture inside our cleanroom facilities,” Grant Merrill, CEO of AES Clean Technology, said in a statement. AES creates modular cleanroom facilities for pharma and biotech customers engaging in clinical research through commercial manufacturing, addressing unmet medical needs in areas such as immunotherapy, diabetes, cancer, and various other debilitating conditions, according to a press release. AES has been a partner in Operation Warp Speed — its cleanroom facilities supporting the manufacturing of COVID vaccines, antibody therapeutics, and diagnostic devices.
The company has purchased a building in Manheim Borough that will serve as a new cleanroom manufacturing facility. As part of the project, the company will make building renovations, purchase machinery and equipment, and train new employees.
“I am pleased that AES recognizes Pennsylvania is the best place to support its need for increased production capabilities as demand continues to grow for high performance cleanroom facilities, including those that are responsible for the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics,” Wolf said in a statement.
The project was coordinated by the Governor’s Action Team, a group of economic development professionals that report directly to the governor and work with businesses that are considering locating or expanding in Pennsylvania.
AES Clean Technology was founded in 1986 as Air Energy Systems, a family-owned mechanical contracting business. The founders then began building cleanrooms for companies that included Merck, Shire, Astra, Zeneka, and BMS, according to the company’s website. “AES saw the benefits cleanrooms could provide in making the world a safer and healthier place,” the website states, and the company began focusing exclusively on cleanrooms.
In addition to its Montgomery County headquarters, AES operates a manufacturing facility in Suwanee, Ga., and has a location in Irvine, Calif.
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