Esco

​Major Product

• Biological Safety Cabinet (BSC)

• Fume Hood

Esco Profile

Overview

Esco Lifesciences Group is a world-leading life science company with a diversified portfolio and sales in over 100 countries across the US, China, Europe and South East Asia​. Esco has 1300+ employees in over 42 locations with 8 R&D and manufacturing sites. As a manufacturer of laboratory and biopharma equipment, and IVF medical devices, Esco offers tailored solutions that fit the needs of laboratories in various industries.

Products and Services

• Antimicrobial powder coating products and methods​

• Chemical and vapor containment, testing and fume scrubbing​

• Cleanroom and isolation system design, filtration, egress and maintenance​

• Computational fluid dynamics and airflow design, control and monitoring​

• Data point placement management, acquisition, logging and communications for predictive maintenance and performance, certification, validation and compliance (FDA 21CFR) and other standards​

• Electromagnetic interference (EMI/EMC) mitigation, elimination and compliance​

• Environmental testing in variable temperature, humidity and lighting conditions​

• Flame and chemical-resistant materials evaluation, testing and integration​

• Hydrogen peroxide and UV-based contamination control techniques, protocols and methods​

• Industrial design, ergonomics and intuitive user interface, service accessibility and safety​

• In-house testing, compliance and certification management to international standards for safety and performance​

• Lead shielding for nuclear medicine protocol containment and protection​

• Mechanical, electrical, electronic and software design, component evaluation and worldwide sourcing​

• Microbiological testing for containment and safety​

• Packaging design, vibration, shock and transit testing​

• Physical and performance testing for clean air products​

• Sensor and microprocessor-based control system development and integration​

• Sheet metal fabrication, welding and finishing technology​

• Thermo cycling and Peltier temperature control​

• Trace, Test, Treat Platform for COVID-19​

• ULPA, HEPA and activated carbon filtration technologies and applications​

• Wind tunnel testing and product evaluation

History

• 1978: Founded by Singaporean pharmacists Lim Lay Yew and Low Yae Foong, to manufacture clean room products for Singapore's then-booming electronics industry. Esco manufactured the first laminar flow clean bench, designed and built its first microelectronics class 10,000 cleanroom for Siemens Corporation. 

• 1990: Esco expanded distribution to pharmaceutical, life science biotechnology and medical research market to Malaysia and Indonesia.

• 2000: Esco begins transformation into a life science tools company

• 2001: Esco became the first Asian manufacturer to earn EN 12469 certification for biological safety cabinets

• 2004: Esco became the first Asian manufacturer to earn NSF/ANSI certification for biological safety cabinets

• 2005: Esco was invited by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration to participate in a joint committee to develop the National Standard for Biological Safety Cabinets.

• 2006 - 2008: Esco expanded its operations to USA with the establishment of Esco Technologies, Inc as an integrated sales, marketing and distribution center. Offices were also set up in India, United Kingdom, China, Canada, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East and South Africa.

• 2009: Esco Pharma was founded to expand its repertoire of life sciences tools to include Isotherm® ovens and incubators, Pharmacon™ downflow booths, Swift® MaxPro and MiniPro new generation PCR thermal cyclers, Labculture® In Vitro Fertilization Workstations, CelCulture® range of carbon dioxide incubator and Lexicon® range of Ultra-low Temperature Freezers.2012: Esco launched the Esco Medical Division providing world class ART/IVF solutions worldwide, with a focus on the new MIRI® Multi-room Embryo Incubator. to provides innovative solutions to fertility clinics and laboratories.

• 2013 - 2014: Esco launched a new range of life sciences equipment which includes Airstream® G3 Class II (the greenest low noise biological safety cabinet in the world), eSafe® (technologically and ergonomically advanced TUV-NORD certified BSC), MIRI® GA gas and temperature validation unit, Fertilisafe™ IVF Workstation and the MIRI® Time-Lapse incubator.2015: Esco invested RMB 100 million into a new 20,000m2 Innovation Center in Taicang, China together with the set-up of a venture office in Esco Beijing.

• 2016: Esco Healthcare was launched to provide biomanufacturing of vaccines and biologics.

• 2017: Esco Aster, an independent Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization was launched, specializing in contractual development and manufacturing of services from upstream to downstream processing.

• 2020: Multiple Installation of COVID-19 equipments (eg. BSC, PCR Cabinets, Refrigerator and Freezer) were done globally to help eradication of the virus.

Award

Esco has been awarded the Singapore Prestige Brand Award for 3 consecutive years in 2015-2018 and the Top Employer Brand Award, which is a testament to its values and the core mission to improve lives.

Patent

Isocide Antimicrobial powder coating

Factory

Esco operates 300,000 square feet of state-of-the-art manufacturing floor space with more than 500 employees. which is one of the largest manufacturing plants for clean air and containment equipment in the world.

Esco's manufacturing advantage stems from our extensive degree of vertical integration, enabled by our world-leading throughput. All processes, with few exceptions, are performed in-house. This allows us to achieve quality and reliability that is truly world-class. Our plant capabilities include:

• Incoming materials inspection and warehousing

• CNC-controlled sheet metal fabrication and welding

• Environmentally-friendly powder coating lines

• Coating performance evaluation laboratory

• Electrical / electronics sub-assembly

• Electromechanical final product assembly

• Multi-step electrical and physical performance testing

• Independent quality control at each step in the production cycle

• Packaging fabrication

Quality control

Esco’s Cross functional teams from Production, R&D, Quality Assurance, Senior Management, are regularly assembled to review and implement areas for improvement.

Esco’s Supplier Development Department works closely with our supply-chain partners to optimize integration and quality.

Esco operates under ISO 9001, ISO 13485 and ISO 14001 certified Quality and Environmental Management Systems. Our production facility is also audited regularly by independent agencies such as UL, NSF, and others. Today, Esco quality is well recognized in more than 100 countries around the world.

Environmental Social & Governance (ESG)

Environment-friendly technology

Esco incorporates the latest proven technologically advanced components available. One in every four of Esco's employees is involved in Research and Development and are evaluating new components or designs for better efficiency.​​ Whenever a new technology is available, Esco redesigns technology into our new products that will use lesser energy.​​

Esco was the first company to utilize the German-made ebm-papst® rotor/motor system in laminar flow products. These motors were selected for energy efficiency, compact design, and flat profile. The complete integrated system assembly optimizes motor cooling, reducing energy consumption and extends the motor life.Esco also uses high-pack, low resistant ULPA filters in our laminar flow products. The low resistance 99.999% efficient filters, combined with the ebm-papst® rotor/motor systems, allows Esco to provide better reserve capacity which leads to longer filter life and lower lifetime cost of the product.

Environment-friendly operations

All Esco companies worldwide are continually reminded to be environmentally friendly in day-to-day operations. Employees are encouraged to practice 5S regularly, ensure proper waste disposal, and save energy.

• Waste bins are properly labeled and segregated. Reminders are posted to switch off and unplug unused equipment.

• Hydroponic gardening and aquaponic farm-fishing

• Unused wooden pallets from the factory are dismantled and repurposed to new bed frames

• Esco provides lands for plant cultivation

HK Labware’s Co-Operation with Esco

Distributorship

HKLabware has been the authorized distributor for Esco’s Product in Hong Kong since 2013.

Training in Singapore Headquarters

As the authorized distributor in Hong Kong, HK Labware was invited to their 2 days training session in Esco’s Headquarters in April 2016. During the training session, HK Labware was familiarized with most of their products including BSCs, CO2 incubators, PCR Cabinets etc.