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The Bartlesville Development Authority approved a two-year lease agreement and a development agreement with Tritanium Labs at the end of September and the company got the keys to their new home on Monday.

The agreement is for approximately 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space for Tritanium Labs within the former Siemens facility at 406 W. Highway 60 in Bartlesville. The BDA closed on an agreement with Siemens in mid-September to purchase the facility for $1.75-million.

Tritanium Labs Managing Director Jeff Lozinski said they were in the process of selling hand sanitizer to businesses like Costco during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic when talks about creating a location in Bartlesville to make the product themselves came about. He said he started going to FDA and OTC certified facilities when everyone and their brother started going to them to say that they could sell a gallon of hand sanitizer for more money.

Lozinski said that resulted in the agreements that they had with the manufacturers to make the hand sanitizer for him at a set price double. He said the only way they could control gouging and greed was to become the manufacturer themselves.

John Lamb in Bartlesville said there was a need in Bartlesville. Lozinski and Tritanium Labs listened and got connected to the Bartlesville Development Authority. Lozinski said the BDA told him that they would love to have businesses like their's relocate to Bartlesville. He said they went on to look at the former Siemens building and eventually settled upon an agreement to occupy some space in the facility to manufacture and sell hand sanitizer.

100 local jobs are anticipated to be created locally thanks to the agreement between the BDA and Tritanium Labs. On top of those jobs, Lozinski said they are looking at working with a company to put some other personal protective equipment manufacturing opportunities in place at their new location. He said this includes the creation of masks, face shields, a sanitation pod which is normal produced in Turkey, and much more.

Most of the pumps for hand sanitizers are made in China, Mexico or overseas. Lozinski said the hardest part of their business is acquiring the pumps for larger sized hand sanitizer bottles. He said they looked at the fact that most of the ingredients and products themselves were coming in from China, which made it nearly impossible to get when the borders closed down during the pandemic because no one was manufacturing these items in the United States due to the how labor intensive it was to create everything.

The pandemic broke the supply chain, and Lozinski said the only way to protect the future is to have that supply chain accessible here in the United States. Lozinski said that means some of the products are going to cost more, but it will be more accessible if something like the pandemic happens again across the globe. He said the American public need to realize this fact and support the companies that are making products here in the United States.

Lozinski said they're anticipating that they will be able to generate approximately 150,000 bottles of hand sanitizer a week at their Bartlesville location. He said they will manufacture more of the 10-ounce and 16-ounce bottles once they get the bottling line in full production.

Fork lifts were delivered to their Bartlesville location on Wednesday. Lozinski said they are in the infancy stages at their new home. He said the fork lifts were delivered so they can start unloading their trucks.

Tritanium Labs is excited for the opportunities that Bartlesville presents. Lozinski said they are conveniently located to handle business on the east coast, west coast and the Midwest in Bartlesville. He said he thinks there are plenty of great natural resources and that the people seem to be extremely open.