Perth, Mar 26, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Stirling Products (ASX: STI) advises that its North American wholly-owned subsidiary, Stirling Products North America Inc (STI-NA), has now signed a lease agreement to become the cornerstone tenant in Prince Edward Island's newest commercial BioScience Park facility. STI-NA has signed the lease agreement within the new state of the art two storey 50,000 square foot bio facility.
Coincident with the signing of the lease holding, Stirling has also cemented a strategic partnership with the PEI Company, Maritime Pulse Drying Inc. in a move that will see STI-NA reduce its current cost of manufacture by fifty percent or more.
In December, 2007 (ASX, 5 December 2007), Stirling announced that it had completed the first stage of the manufacturing scale-up at its Charlottetown facility on Prince Edward Island. Phase II of the scale-up requires new premises in order to expand the manufacturing process and significantly reduce the cost of goods. The expansion is required in order to meet the anticipated increase in demand for ProVale resulting from the development of new market opportunities for ProVale.
"We are extremely pleased to be leading the way in realising what will be a very impressive new facility on Prince Edward Island," said Dr. Calvin London, CEO and Managing Director, Stirling Products.
The new facility is being financed by a $4 million loan backed by the PEI government. Occupancy is expected in early August.
"STI-NA has agreed to guarantee the first three years of Maritime Pulse Drying's (MPD) lease signifying the start of a long and beneficial relationship, whereby MPD will provide toll spray drying capacity to STI-NA from the unit next door, thus removing associated shipping costs. In order to maximise the efficiencies of our manufacturing process, we needed to reassess the spray drying unit operation. Currently material is shipped interstate to be dried due to a lack of drying resources on PEI," indicated CEO and President of STI-NA, Mr Shane Patelakis.
MPD, a BioScience start-up, is implementing a unique custom spray drying solution for their clientele. This technology has proven to be extremely effective in maximizing bioactivity of dried powders and reducing effective particle size of powders. The dependence on STI-NA to guarantee the lease will be repaid in preferred drying rates for STI-NA, which has committed a minimum of 80% of its drying needs to MPD once the facility is established and production is occurring in the new facility.
"This new facility provides STI-NA with a Good Manufacturing Practice facility (that is essential for international sales) and the opportunity to further increase our manufacturing potential as committed in the Phase II scale-up," indicated Mr Patelakis.
About ProVale:
ProVale is a highly purified, safe and natural immune-stimulating bioactive extract for use as a livestock or pet animal feed supplement. This unique "immunobiotic" has the benefit of boosting the immune system against various bacterial and viral diseases of animals. The product already has sales for poultry and swine in North America with further sales opportunities expected in South America and South East Asia.
Contact
Stirling Products
Dr London
Tel: +61-8-9480-1480
Mob: +61-400-204-616
Web: www.stirlingproducts.net
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