Nebraska-BD relationship dates back to 1949 with first BD production facility in U.S. outside of New Jersey
Governor Pete Ricketts and other dignitaries helped BD celebrate 15 years of production at its Columbus-East plant with a groundbreaking for a $60 million, 69,000-square-foot expansion. The upgrade of Columbus-East is part of a plan to centralize BD’s North American plastic molding to insure global supply chain success. Completion of the project is anticipated in 2021.
“BD is one of the largest users of plastic injection molded products in the world, with hundreds of billions of units produced internally each year,” said James Borzi, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer of BD. “The new facility will centralize a majority of BD’s North American plastic molding production and will support multiple business units in the U.S. and around the world.”
BD began operations in Columbus, Nebraska, in 1949 with 15 people and 24,000 square feet of building space with what is now known as Columbus-West. The development was in response to the U.S. government’s call for geographic diversification of manufacturing operations away from the east coast after World War 2. From those humble beginnings, Columbus-West has grown to be the world’s largest producer of needles/saline syringes worldwide, as well as the largest medical tubing manufacturing operation. Columbus-West is celebrating 50 years of cannula production and supplies cannula to 17 BD sites worldwide.
“This is an exciting day for growing the community of Columbus and the State of Nebraska,” said Governor Ricketts. “BD’s $60 million expansion at their Columbus-East facility is another example of how the industry’s faith in our state can help create new opportunities in our communities. With facilities in Columbus, Holdrege, and Broken Bow, BD has been a great partner in growing the Good Life and we appreciate their ongoing investment in Nebraska.”
BD currently employs nearly 1,700 associates at its two Columbus facilities and nearly 2,500 in total, at its four Nebraska locations including Holdrege and Broken Bow.
BD’s Columbus facilities are served electrically by Loup Power District, a wholesale customer of NPPD.