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N.J. firm ramps up production of radiation-sensing cards to meet Japanese demand
By Beth Fitzgerald
With more than $2 million in federal research grants, scientist Gordhan Patel developed radiation-sensing stickers and cards, and manufactured them at his Middlesex company, JP Laboratories. A week after Japan’s tsunami and nuclear disaster, the U.S. Department of State purchased his entire inventory of 30,000 dosimeters and took them to Japan.
Patel said he can only make 20,000 stickers and 5,000 cards a day in New Jersey, but now, he’s about to begin production at a Southern California plant that can make 1 million stickers and a half million cards a day. Patel said his distributor has told him “if I can make 10 million, they can sell 10 million — iterally, every Japanese wants one of them.†He said radiation sensors provide peace of mind to individuals who fear exposure, and allow medical teams to determine who is at risk without the need for blood tests.
In Middlesex, Patel said he has increased his staff from three to 10 since March, and he plans to ramp up production in New Jersey — in a few months, he may have 50 employees. Patel said his normal practice is to invent, patent and license technology: “I always developed new products, but never manufactured them. But we have decided to make this product ourselves.â€
Patel, who worked in research and development at Allied Signal (now Honeywell) before starting JP
Labs in 1983, has received several research grants from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Innovation Research grant program.
E-mail Beth Fitzgerald at bfitzgerald@njbiz.com