Valeant Pharmaceuticals hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Bausch + Lomb ULTRA contact lens manufacturing lines and solar array assembly at the company’s Optics Center in Rochester, NY. The ceremony recognized the expansion and installation of the new manufacturing lines, which will produce the company’s silicone hydrogel contact lens, Bausch + Lomb ULTRA. The solar array, which is currently under construction, will generate and supply electricity through the installation of 3,667 solar panels, helping to reduce the Rochester facility’s carbon footprint by 800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
In attendance at the event were Senator Charles Schumer, Vincent Esposito from Empire State Development, on behalf of the Governor, several other members of government and local business leaders.
“Our Rochester facility is a very important piece of our strategy to rebuild Bausch + Lomb as one of the leading contact lens producers,” stated J. Michael Pearson, Valeant’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Our Rochester Optics Center is a first in class manufacturing site for contact lens manufacturing and distribution, and with the new contact lens manufacturing lines, we will add much needed production capacity to supply both current and future demand. I want to thank both Senator Schumer and the State of New York for their support of this project. “
“Rochester’s Bausch + Lomb workforce invented the contact lens and it’s only fitting that Bausch + Lomb’s next great lens innovation, Bausch + Lomb ULTRA, will be manufactured in Rochester by 120 newly-hired workers,” stated Senator Charles Schumer. “I appreciate that Bausch + Lomb’s parent company Valeant heeded my call last summer to build these new multi-million dollar manufacturing lines right here in Rochester — and not overseas. These new Bausch + Lomb manufacturing lines will help keep more than 1,000 good-paying, high-skilled jobs here in Rochester. All signs say Bausch + Lomb ULTRA has the potential for massive growth, which will keep Rochester and its innovative workers at the forefront of growing this storied Rochester company for decades to come.” Empire State Development President, Chief Executive Officer & Commissioner Kenneth Adams said, “Today’s ribbon cutting is a win for Bausch + Lomb’s Rochester workforce and for the local economy. New York State’s investment in the future expansion of Bausch + Lomb’s manufacturing lines in Rochester will retain hundreds of jobs and bolster an iconic Rochester company.”
