Beckman Coulter Inc., a maker of medical testing equipment and supplies, is consolidating operations in Brea after more than 50 years in Fullerton.
Beckman will move its OC operations, including its corporate office, from its 54-year-old complex on North Harbor Boulevard into its Brea facility by the end of 2009.
The plan was announced last week to company workers, spokeswoman Mary Luthy said.
Beckman told workers that there probably would be outsourcing or relocations as part of the effort, but none of that will occur this year, Luthy said.
Beckman’s consolidation is part of a continuing restructuring under Chief Executive Scott Garrett, who took over the company in 2005.
So far, the restructuring effort has included freeing up 100,000 square feet of excess space and closing a metal shop to outsource the work. Beckman also combined six small West Coast warehouses into an 180,000-square-foot distribution center in Chino.
Founder Arnold O. Beckman, who died in 2004 at the age of 104, moved the then-Beckman Instruments Inc. into 220,000 square feet of Fullerton space in 1954 because it had outgrown its South Pasadena base.
Today, the Fullerton complex mainly houses Beckman’s corporate offices and its life science operation, while Brea is largely devoted to the company’s clinical instrument division.
The company has 925 to 950 people working in Fullerton and is the city’s largest public company. Overall, Beckman has 2,100 workers in OC and about 10,000 companywide.
After the move, Beckman will be the largest company headquartered in Brea. Other companies with a headquarters there include Venture Foods Inc. and American Suzuki Motor Corp., the American arm of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp.
