“Vermonters believe in doing great things and, more importantly, that great things can still be realized. As a people, we dare to dream.” Adam Alpert
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icroplate readers don’t look all that exciting to the untrained eye, but don’t let their boxy, cash-register-like appearance fool you. Doctors use these devices to test blood and tissue samples for diseases such as cancer, HIV and avian flu. Microplate systems are essentially super-efficient test tubes: highly sophisticated detectors that look for reactions in hundreds of biological samples at once. These life-saving machines are designed and manfactured at BioTek Instruments, Inc. in little Winooski, Vt. BioTek is one of the global leaders in microplate instrumentation, with sales and service offices in China, Singapore, France, Germany, India and the U.K. But the family company remains firmly rooted in the Green Mountain State. Dr. Norman Alpert founded BioTek in 1968 while working as a physiologist at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Before the days of government regulation, Alpert identified a need for equipment that tested the safety of instruments used in hospitals. Patients could get electrocuted in their hospital beds because a bed motor wasn’t grounded properly. So he tapped his network of university colleagues to develop quality assurance products that would ensure better safety. Then he hired a workforce to engineer them. His sons, Briar and Adam, run BioTek today. The company introduced its first microplate reader in 1981. In 2002, BioTek sold its biomedical division to focus exclusively on microplate instrumentation. Since then, BioTek has more than doubled its sales, outpacing market and competitor growth rates. The firm boasts a staff of 250 housed in two buildings in an office park in Winooski, with another 80 or so employees overseas. BioTek had its best sales year ever in 2008. In 2009, Vermont Business Magazine named it the Best Place to Work in Vermont — the company's average employee tenure is 12 years, thanks to its family atmosphere, good
biotek.com
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b io T ek I n strum e n ts, Inc .
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benefits and profit sharing. Last year, the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce chose BioTek as its Business of the Year. Other states have tried to lure this fast-growing company away from Vermont with lucrative tax breaks and financial assistance. Adam Alpert, Vice President of Business Development, insists BioTek remains firmly committed to Vermont, but adds that doing business in the state can be challenging. “Vermonters succeed both because of and in spite of the state they live in,” he says. “In terms of tax, investment, and development policy, we have to acknowledge that Vermont is not as ‘business friendly’ as some states.” Training can be an issue, too. Many BioTek staffers came from larger companies, such as GE and Digital, where they benefitted from formal training programs. BioTek is too small to develop its own curriculum for specific technologies. That means that the company has to rely on local educational institutions for continuing workforce education, which is not ideal; the programs offered aren’t necessarily designed with BioTek in mind. Nonetheless, the company expects to add 10 more jobs this year. As for the employees he’s got, Alpert can’t say enough good things about them. He cites their loyalty, strong work ethic and sense of idealism. “Vermonters believe in doing great things and, more importantly, that great things can still be realized,” he says. “As a people, we dare to dream — how else can using an old gas station to create an ice cream empire be explained? This translates into wonderful creative, entrepreneurial successes every day.”
BioTek Instruments, Inc.
develops, manufactures and sells microplate instrumentation and software. Founded
1968 HQ
Winooski Staff
210 in Vermont, 30 in other states, 40 overseas
building bioscience
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