Mantrose crosses border to renovated R.I. labs

COURTESY MANTROSE
FRESH APPROACH: Mantrose research scientist Xiaoling Dong puts fresh-cut lettuce into the environmental chamber for microbial testing.
COURTESY MANTROSE FRESH APPROACH: Mantrose research scientist Xiaoling Dong puts fresh-cut lettuce into the environmental chamber for microbial testing.

In the interstate tug of war over high-paying life science jobs, Rhode Island has won one small skirmish with the relocation of the Mantrose-Haeuser Co. labs from Attleboro to Lincoln this fall.
A century-old manufacturer and worldwide leader in bleach shellac, Mantrose-Haeuser in recent decades has produced the edible coatings that go on pharmaceuticals and an expanding number of foods – such as supermarket apples – that benefit from a shiny, protective layer.
As uses for Mantrose’s coatings have grown in the last decade, so have the space needs of the scientists in its research and development division, which had been working out of labs inside the company’s manufacturing plant on Olive Street in Attleboro.
The plant, which inhabits an old mill building tucked between the Ten Mile River and a thickly settled residential neighborhood close to downtown, just couldn’t provide the space and setting the company’s team of scientists needed.
“We started outgrowing our lab space in Attleboro – they were completely crammed in,” said Mantrose Marketing Director Karen Murphy. “Our vice president of research and development lives in Rhode Island, so we started looking around in that area for a new space.”
Despite moving its research and development division, Mantrose is keeping its manufacturing plant open in Attleboro, employing several dozen workers there.
Heading to Lincoln will be about 12 scientists, plus an administrator, Murphy said.
The new space will be “state of the art,” and was renovated by the owner of the building to suit Mantrose’s specifications, Murphy said.
Like many American manufacturers in recent years, Mantrose has moved some of its factory production overseas to India and China, where costs are much lower. Altogether the company, which is owned by RPM International of Medina, Ohio, has products ranging from adhesives and paints to candy glazes and nail polish. The U.S. manufacturing plants like the one in Attleboro now focus on high-grade coatings for products like pharmaceuticals and foods, which must meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards.
As Mantrose looks for new technology that will allow it to expand the use of its coatings to new market segments, the research and development work in the local labs has become an even more crucial part of the operation.
In the 1990s the federal government, looking to get Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables, approached Mantrose about finding a way to keep produce from turning brown after being cut.
What the company came up with in 1995 was a vitamin and mineral blend called NatureSeal that food makers can dip sliced apples and 29 other kinds of cut produce in to extend their shelf life. The coating is widely used on fruits and vegetables stocked by restaurants and supermarkets for an extended period of time.
The food-coating part of the business now comprises about the same portion of Mantrose’s business as pharmaceuticals and points to the potential for expanding to other markets using their chemistry expertise.
“We have really grown and it is a really big industry to be in,” Murphy said. “We are very involved in lobbying Washington for the fresh fruit and vegetable program.”
In addition to the space constraints, Mantrose also faced challenges in Attleboro trying to fit its industrial operations into a dense urban neighborhood.
The company faced complaints from neighbors and city health officials about unpleasant fumes drifting from the plant into homes. The company did more than $1 million worth of work at the plant in 2006 to solve the issue and the complaints stopped.
In 2008, Mantrose agreed to pay Massachusetts $2 million to settle pollution charges filed by Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley. At the time, the settlement was the second-largest fine in state history for pollution charges. Mantrose’s search for a new research facility ultimately led the company to Blackstone Center at 6 Blackstone Valley Place in Lincoln. The company said it neither sought nor received any assistance from the R.I. Economic Development Corporation in moving to the state.
The company liked not only the office park’s proximity to the lab director’s house in Cumberland, but also the space’s history in pharmaceuticals.
For about 10 years, the Blackstone Center offices Mantrose has moved into were occupied by Pfizer pharmaceuticals, until that company was bought by Johnson & Johnson last year.
Even though it had previously been occupied by a drug maker, the Blackstone Center offices have been renovated by landlord F.H. French to include even more lab space.
From about 2,000 square feet in Attleboro, Mantrose’s new facility is a custom-designed, 10,000-square-foot research center. Their new lease is for 10 years and they made the move in October.
“This is more of a lab use than Pfizer [had],” said Jennifer Cookke, president of F.H. French, adding that the renovation took a little over six weeks. “The second floor is now almost entirely benches and lab space.”
Like Rhode Island as a whole, Cookke said F.H. French targets technology companies and sees Mantrose as a good candidate for future growth. French allows companies that grow to move to larger spaces in other buildings it owns mid-lease.
“We have had a history as an incubator space for technology companies and we see that with Mantrose,” Cookke said. “They are an ideal tenant. Who knows how quickly they will grow? We let everyone out of their lease as long as they stay with us. If they grow, we will get them a new space.” &#8226

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