Thermo Fisher opens $192M pipette tip manufacturing site in North Carolina

Thermo Fisher Scientific, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, has opened a 375,000-square-foot manufacturing center in Mebane, North Carolina. The carbon neutral facility is designed to produce at least 40 million laboratory pipette tips per week, according to the company.

The Mebane site reportedly uses advanced automation that produces 96 tips every 12 seconds and 5,000 finished assemblies per hour, with integrated packaging and shipping systems to meet demand.

The project stems from a $192.5 million contract awarded in 2021 in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Defense, according to the announcement. Thermo Fisher said it has hired 40 people so far and is expected to add 50 more jobs in manufacturing, engineering and business operations at the site.

The opening of the site aligns with its strategy to expand U.S. manufacturing capabilities while supporting continued innovation and growth in North Carolina. That strategy includes an agreement announced in July to acquire Sanofi’s sterile fill-finish and packaging site in Ridgefield, New Jersey. The facility employs more than 200 people and will expand Thermo Fisher’s U.S. drug product manufacturing capacity once the deal closes in the second half of 2025.