Inovar technician Shannon Haslam inspects a circuit board to make sure it meets the correct standards in an August 2018 photo.
NORTH LOGAN – A North Logan electrical manufacturing service company is building electrical components for a medical device that can diagnose the COVID-19 virus in 45 minutes.
Inovar remains open as a Critical Essential Supplier of medical electronics for medical devices. Currently, the company is working on components for BioFire’s diagnostic tool that has been given an emergency authorization by the FDA for use by labs to detect COVID-19 in people, said Charcie Roberts, a company spokesman.
The current COVID-19 test takes six hours from start to finish, said Kelly Wroblewski, the director of infectious disease programs at the Association of Public health Laboratories. The BioFire tests should shave hours off the current testing.
Governor Gary Herbert praised companies in Utah, like BioFire, that are on the forefront of trying to curb of the global pandemic.
“As a supplier to businesses that are working to support our country against COVID-19, such as BioFire, the raw materials you are providing are essential to the manufacturing of very important rapid tests that will aid in the detection of COVID-19,” the governor said in a letter to Inovar. “BioFire will also be effective in other tests currently used in the detection of a broad range of respiratory illness.”
Governor Herbert said the tests are essential in the fight against this pandemic.
BioFire has over 25 years of molecular diagnostic experience and has pioneered advances in syndromic infectious disease testing.
Inovar is working diligently to keep its workplace productive and healthy during the pandemic. Social distancing, fewer interactions, and good hygiene help the factories and its employees maintain the quality support that its customers rely on.
“As the world works to overcome COVID-19, Inovar is doing its part by staying in close contact with BioFire and other medical customers as we prioritize supplying materials needed to meet their vital demand,” Inovar CEO Crag Rupp said. “We produce precise, high-quality circuit boards for our customers.”
Two years ago, the company moved in to a new 120,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility on Utah State University’s Innovation Campus, located at 750 East 1600 North in North Logan.
The precision-electronic manufacturing company was co-founded by Blake Kirby in 1998 in Hyrum where they started making circuit boards out of a garage.
Today,the high-tech company also serve clients in the military/aerospace and communications industries with some 450 employees.