Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Genesis Packing helps deliver the cure
Honey Brookbased division of R- V Industries manufactures machines that cap medical vials
When a vaccine for COVID- 19is widely available, a Honey Brook company will have played a significant role in getting it out.
In the not- too- distant future when a vaccine for COVID19 is widely available, a company located in Honey Brook will have played a significant role in getting it out.
The vials that carry the doses of medicine used in injections are sealed by equipment made by Genesis Packaging Technologies, which recently relocated to a renovated building in Honey Brook Township, Chester County. It is adjacent to its parent company, R- V Industries Inc., and its complex along Poplar Road just outside Honey Brook borough.
Genesis says on its website that it provides advanced vial sealing equipment for the packaging of critical injectable pharmaceutical products. Genesis designs, develops and builds vial cappers “with innovative technologies that meet the technical challenges of parenteral pharmaceutical packaging, assuring seal integrity and in compliance with advancing regulatory requirements for aseptic processing and container closure integrity.”
General Manager Eric Stone says that Genesis works with blue- chip pharmaceutical companies both national and global. That means when you received a recent f lu shot or booster, chances are the needle poked through a cap made by a Genesis machine.
“It’s a high likelihood that it was sealed on one of our cappers,” he said.
Currently, Genesis is finishing up the move to its new building. The company was previously located in Exton, but has relocated to the bigger facility. It is 44,000 square feet, compared to 27,000 at the previous location.
The capping machines are produced in the largest room where devices large and small are assembled. All parts are built from outside vendors, Stone said, and R- V makes a good share of the larger components.
“It’s a completely renovated building,” Stone said. “It was gutted and we essentially popped up a couple of walls and expanded it to bring it up to our standards. We upgraded the shop for assembly.”
Besides the manufacturing area, there are meeting rooms, executive offices, a call center, a spacious lunch room and a testing area. Stone said pharmaceutical companies will come to Genesis for acceptance tests before taking delivery.
That’s why having a newer and more spacious facility is important, Genesis director of marketing Lawrence Pepper said, because the “pharmaceutical companies expect elegance.”
Genesis currently employs 30 — R- V has a total workforce of 280 — and suffered no layoffs as its services were, of course, considered essential by the state during the pandemic.
“We gutted it and it’s much bigger than it looks from the outside,” R- V Industries marketing manager Robert Hamm said. “We put it together and it works better for the group to bring it to one area.”