Beckman Coulter plans $18.2M expansion, 100 new jobs

California-based life sciences firm Beckman Coulter Inc. is planning its third local expansion since 2007, investing $18.2 million in its Indianapolis operation and adding as many as 95 jobs here in the next three years.

Beckman Coulter, which makes biomedical testing equipment, plans to begin hiring manufacturing associates immediately for its facilities at 5355 W. 76th St. and 5550 Lakeview Parkway. It also will add employees in field service, engineering and general business roles.

Indiana Economic Development Corp. officials disclosed the company’s plans Friday morning. The agency offered Beckman Coulter up to $800,000 in performance-based tax credits and as much as $300,000 in training grants. The city and Develop Indy will support a property tax abatement request.

Last year, Beckman Coulter said it would move its precision plastics injection-molding business and portions of its product-development and field-service operations to Indianapolis, adding 100 employees to its local staff of about 400.

In 2007, the company closed its 220-employee centrifuge development and manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, Calif., and moved the work here.

The company has had a presence in Indianapolis since acquiring a locally based high-tech start-up in December 1996.

Founded in 1935 as National Technical Laboratories, Beckman Coulter employs more than 12,000 worldwide and reported more than $3.3 billion in revenue in 2009.