Lancaster Laboratories

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Lancaster Laboratories Inc.
IndustryContract Analytical Services
Founded1961
FounderEarl H. Hess
Headquarters
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
,
United States
Number of locations
2
Area served
Worldwide
Services
  • Biopharmaceutical
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Pharmaceutical
Revenue$115 million
Number of employees
45,000
ParentEurofins
Websitehttp://lancasterlabs.com/

Lancaster Laboratories Inc., is one of the largest contract laboratories in the United States. They specialize in pharmaceutical and environmental analytical services.[1]

Headquartered near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the company employs 45,000 employees worldwide.[1] Their clients include businesses, industries, and consultants in more than 40 countries, including 19 of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

History[edit]

Lancaster Laboratories was founded by Dr. Earl H. Hess in 1961 as a 2,500-square-foot (230 m2) lab with three employees, including the first lab tech, John Snyder. Earl Hess opened the company intending to provide analytical services to area agribusinesses and industries.[2]

The company claims several distinctions:

  • They were the first laboratory accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation
  • They prepared the first qualifications manual in the lab industry and implemented a total quality management system in 1989
  • They pioneered computerized Laboratory Information Management Systems in the 1970s and designed a model automated system for retrieval and storage of samples — the only laboratory to have such a system

Dr. Hess retired in 1995, selling Lancaster Laboratories to Thermo TerraTech. The company was again sold in 2000 to Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison and yet again in August 2005 to Fisher Scientific.[3] Fisher Scientific was acquired by Thermo Electron in 2007 to form Thermo Fisher Scientific.[4] Eurofins Scientific acquired the company in 2011.[5]

Dr. J. Wilson Hershey serves as chairman of the board. Tim S. Oostdyk serves as president.[6]

See also[edit]