Testing firm Smithers Rapra will open a new laboratory this summer in the Akron Global Business Accelerator primarily for the global medical device, pharmaceutical and food packaging industries.
The new laboratory is part of Smithers Rapra’s strategy to expand its expertise beyond rubber, plastics and composites testing — although the new lab will also help with rubber and polymer product testing.
The laboratory will focus on extractables and leachables and food contact analysis, Smithers Rapra said in a release. The company did not provide a specific opening date.
Akron-based Smithers Rapra said it hired Paul Cummings as general manager of the new facility.
“Introducing new testing capabilities in the U.S. will allow us to bring our highly respected services closer to our North American clients,” Nat Leonard, Smithers Rapra president, said in a news release.
Cummings has more than 35 years experience in chemistry and leadership in the pharmaceutical industry, Smithers Rapra said. He most recently was a research fellow and manager of trace organic analysis for Intertek Pharmaceutical Services and has worked at West Pharmaceutical, Drugscan, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck.