Varian to open HPLC production facility in Melbourne

Victoria has won a key investment in a $US200 million coup that sees a Silicon Valley production facility shift its base to Melbourne's east.

Varian Australia will take over the manufacturing of analytical high performance liquid chromatographs (HPLCs) from its parent company, Varian Inc, which is based in California.

The Mulgrave division began bidding for the production line to be transferred Down Under around March this year. And the deal was finally clinched just weeks ago, spurred along by a personal visit by Victorian Innovation Minister John Brumby to Varian's Palo Alto corporate headquarters.

Speaking at the announcement of the investment, Brumby said it was exactly the sort Victoria wished to attract. "It's exportable, it's high-tech, it's innovation and it's exactly where Victoria wants to be in the future," he said.

"It will also have secondary benefits that flow through to the biotech sector because you can't do life sciences work without vital tools of the trade and that includes the HPLCs that are going to be produced right here."

HPLCs are specialised instruments, typically used to help researchers look for new drugs for such diseases as cancer.

The new investment builds on the four productions lines already in place at Mulgrave, where Varian Australia has business in the areas of atomic absorption spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and ultra violet spectroscopy.

Premier Steve Bracks announced the deal to Varian Australia employees saying it was expected to deliver more than $100 million in exports and 65 new high skill jobs and would double the local division's manufacturing output over the next five years.

"The transfer of this production line means work that used to take place overseas will now take place in Victoria," Bracks said.

"This investment is in recognition of our world-class strengths in manufacturing and innovation."

The coup came as Manufacturing Industry Minister Rob Hulls unveiled the state government's Victorian Medical and Scientific Equipment Industry strategic plan - one in a series focused on sectors with strong growth prospects.

Releasing the plan, Hulls said Victoria's future depended on knowledge-intensive industries, such as medical and scientific equipment manufacture, that provide high-paying, high-skill jobs.

"Our aim is to create a vibrant, integrated, export-driven medical and scientific equipment cluster, globally recognised for its innovation and excellence," Hulls said in the report.

"This will mean applying science and engineering inventively to deliver world-class technologies that will enhance human understanding and improve healthcare globally."

He said rising global demand - because of such factors as the ageing population, as well as technological innovation - and Victoria's strong science and medical base presented plenty of exploitable opportunities.

The plan predicts the industry will grow by 20 to 30 per cent annually, generate revenues of $1.3 billion a year, replace $100 million worth of imports annually, and employ 4,500 people full-time by 2007.

The report outlines a range of initiatives under the general headings of growing global export markets; evolving products, manufacturing and businesses; developing people, skills and training; leading opinion, advocacy and support.

The strategic plan can be downloaded in full at www.business.vic.gov.au