SUNNYVALE — A testing laboratory has opened a new Sunnyvale location that enables the company to operate more efficiently and launch a big hiring effort, the lab said Tuesday.
Ascend Clinical believes its new Sunnyvale offices could allow it to increase employment counts by at least 17% in that city, according to estimates provided to this news organization.
“This is a very significant expansion for us,” said Jeff Vizethann, an Ascend Clinical executive vice president. “This is a great location for us.”
Ascend Clinical has launched operations within a building of roughly 100,000 square feet, according to Vizethann. The new company offices, lab and warehouse are at 435 Oakmead Parkway in Sunnyvale.
“For our new laboratory, we invested in the best possible technologies, including advanced robotics and automation, making our core business more efficient while providing us new tools to broaden our testing into new markets,” said Paul Beyer, chief executive officer with Ascend.
The Sunnyvale location also serves as Ascend Clinical’s new headquarters, the company said.
“We are in a hiring mode,” Vizethann said. “We have a lot of potential for more growth, both for staffing and customers.”
An estimated 250 to 300 people are working at present in the new Sunnyvale location. The company could accommodate up to 350 workers at that site, Vizethann said.
That could represent a workforce increase of at least 16.7%, and of as much as 40%, at the Sunnyvale site.
“We were bursting at the seams in our old Redwood City location,” Vizethann said.
The company’s primary business is to provide clinics with testing services for kidney disease.
“We are looking for people to work in the labs as well as people in sales and field service who could work throughout the country,” Vizethann said.
The new Sunnyvale office is a far more efficient complex than the company’s prior operations in Redwood City, where Ascend Clinical occupied two sites, according to company executives.
“We had the offices and the lab in one building and the warehouse down the street,” Vizethann said.
Instead of being obliged to drive from one building to another, employees are all on one floor and in a single building.
“If an employee has to pick up a reagent, instead of driving to the warehouse, they can just order a robot to pick it up from a cooler,” Vizethann said.
Besides the main Sunnyvale complex, Ascend also has two locations in Colorado. In addition to the headquarters and laboratories, the Sunnyvale site also houses logistics and supply chain operations. The Colorado offices contain software development and client relations.
“For our new laboratory, we invested in the best possible technologies, including advanced robotics and automation, making our core business more efficient while providing us new tools to broaden our testing into new markets,” Beyer said.
in 1999, Vizethann became the company’s employee No. 1 as the first person hired by the company’s board of directors. The company officially began operations in 2000.
“It’s been great to see the company grow like this over the years,” Vizethann said.
