Valent U.S.A. recently opened the new North American Innovation Center in San Ramon. The new state-of-the-art facility brings together two important departments within the company. Chief Operating Officer for Valent U.S.A., Matt Plitt said that they are excited about the opportunity that the new facility presents.
“We have taken our headquarters for North America which was based in Walnut Creek, California, and our research science laboratory that was headquartered in Dublin, California, and merged that into a new North American Innovation Center,” said Plitt. “It’s a great opportunity for us to combine the innovation of our science team and our business team in a very collaborative environment.”
The merging of the two previous facilities will allow for better coordination between departments. The nearly 100,000 square-foot facility comes with laboratory upgrades from the previous research science laboratory. Plitt said that the research staff will now “have state of the art facilities utilizing some of the newest scientific tools to help build out great solutions for growers in North America.”
Valent is looking to further develop its sustainable solutions portfolio. The new North American Innovation Center should be able to facilitate a quicker pace in that goal. Plitt explained that they will be investing in more staff across the board. Specifically, more scientific positions will be added in the new facility to help expedite the work to bring new products to the market. The new facility has also been upgraded to provide working conditions within the parameters of COVID-19 restrictions.
“It definitely changed how we looked at this facility. This has been a two-year project, so when we started designing the facility and putting a plan in place that was definitely before we knew anything about the novel coronavirus,” Plitt noted. “Since that time, we have been able to adjust the spacing in the facility through our workstations to provide ample social distancing for our employees.”
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