CENTER VALLEY, Pa., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Olympus, a precision technology leader, designing and delivering imaging solutions in healthcare, life science and photography, today celebrates the dedication of its new headquarters for the Americas in Eastern Pennsylvania, positioning the company for continued long-term profitable growth. A building dedication ceremony later this morning will be attended by Dennis Yablonsky, secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development, on behalf of Governor Edward G. Rendell; F. Mark Gumz, president and chief operating officer, Olympus America Inc; Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, president, Olympus Corporation, Tokyo; Masaharu Okubo, president, Olympus Imaging Corporation, Tokyo; as well as state and local politicians and Olympus customers and business partners.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060720/NYTH053 )
“Today marks the beginning of a new era for Olympus,” stated Gumz. “Olympus’ strategic decision to relocate its headquarters to the Lehigh Valley is the result of a comprehensive two-year study that involved 16 different U.S. markets ranging from the midwest to the east cost. The analysis was based on a broad range of factors, such as the cost of conducting business, living costs, recruitment needs and quality of life. I would like to thank Governor Rendell for championing Olympus’ relocation to Eastern Pennsylvania.”
“Landing an internationally recognized company like Olympus is a tremendous accomplishment for Pennsylvania,” said Governor Rendell, “and proof that our aggressive efforts to create a competitive business environment are paying dividends. In the last three and a half years, we have targeted investments in our businesses, communities, infrastructure and workforce to help companies succeed. This approach has helped create new opportunities for the State’s hard working men and women, as more and more employers choose to expand or relocate here in the Commonwealth.”
State-of-the-Art Building Design
Olympus’ new 337,400 square-foot headquarters, located in the Stabler Center at 3500 Corporate Parkway in Center Valley, provides maximum flexibility to reconfigure workspaces as needed to accommodate the company’s growth. The building, designed by architectural firm EwingCole of Philadelphia, reflects Olympus’ commitment to customer-centricity, allowing customers access to facilities for conferences and continuing medical education events. Its silver-metal and glass exterior architecturally expresses the Olympus brand by mirroring the company’s opto-digital products, such as industry-leading gastrointestinal endoscopes, research microscopes and digital cameras. The facility’s design also supports employee creativity, collaboration and productivity, which are key pillars of Olympus’ culture, and addresses the demand that modern workplaces more closely resemble home life.
“The innovative design of our new headquarters allows us to better interact with our customers, reflects our culture of fostering employee creativity and productivity, and also gives us maximum flexibility to support the company’s long-term growth,” added Gumz.
Strategic Decision to Relocate Headquarters; Positive Economic Impact to
Community
Gumz noted that three years before the decision was announced in 2004 to relocate to Lehigh Valley, Olympus conducted a thorough analysis of how its employees worked, the role of technology, the need for face-to-face collaboration in that work, the changing needs for physical space and storage of files, and several other factors impacting a headquarters facility. Findings underscored that Olympus, as a customer-centric and marketing-focused company, would require a technologically well-appointed environment that emphasized teamwork to best meet its growth objectives.
The relocation of the Olympus headquarters to the Lehigh Valley from Melville, N.Y., illustrates how economic incentive programs like Pennsylvania’s KOZ package can benefit companies and contribute to regional development in the U.S. Compared to Olympus’ previous operating costs, the tax abatement from the State, based on “earn out” against taxable operating income and abatement of local real estate taxes and sales taxes on activity within the KOZ will save Olympus tens of millions of dollars during the incentive period and will result in substantial annual savings representing millions of dollars, even after the tax abatement ends December 31, 2013.
Offering premium compensation, the company has attracted thousands of job applicants and is expected to employ nearly 600 people at the new facility by the end of 2006. The building has been built to sustain the company for seven years of growth and can accommodate up to 1,000 people. Olympus America and its sister companies, Olympus Imaging America and Olympus Medical Equipment Services America, of which Mark Gumz is also president and COO, collectively have approximately 2,100 employees in the U.S. and Canada.
Olympus is also becoming an increasing cultural force in Eastern Pennsylvania, supporting art and education programs at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, including the Olympus Digital Imaging Center, and is the principal sponsor of Musikfest for 2005-06, held in Bethlehem each August.
Construction of Olympus’ new headquarters was managed by Alvin H. Butz, Inc., Allentown, Pa. The project involved numerous subcontractors from the region and 600 workers throughout the construction period. Olympus estimates that its ongoing payroll and operations expenditures spent locally should help contribute hundreds of new jobs in the Lehigh Valley annually, above and beyond jobs held by Olympus employees.
ABOUT OLYMPUS
Olympus is a precision technology leader, designing and delivering imaging solutions in healthcare, life science and photography.
Olympus works collaboratively with its customers and its parent company, Tokyo-based Olympus Corporation, to leverage R&D investment in precision technology and manufacturing processes across diverse business lines. These include:
* Gastrointestinal endoscopes, accessories, and minimally invasive surgical products; * Advanced clinical and research microscopes; * Lab automation systems, chemistry-immuno and blood bank analyzers and reagents; * Digital and film cameras and digital voice recorders.
In the U.S. and Canada, Olympus America serves healthcare and commercial laboratory markets with integrated product solutions and financial, educational and consulting services that help customers efficiently, reliably, safely, and easily achieve superior results. Olympus is the leader in gastrointestinal endoscopy and clinical and educational microscopes. The company’s consumer products business spans North and South America. For more information, visit http://www.olympusamerica.com .
NOTE TO EDITORS: Fact sheets and additional information about Olympus’ new headquarters for the Americas are available at http://www.olympuspresspass.com .
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060720/NYTH053AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.orgPRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.comOlympus
CONTACT: Christian Pflaumer, +1-212-229-8491, CPflaumer@ccapr.com, forOlympus; or Elizabeth Sullivan, +1-484-896-5005,Elizabeth.Sullivan@olympus.com, of Olympus
