BROKEN BOW, Neb.— A steady stream of current and former employees, local officials and BD executives filled the former National Guard Armory on Thursday as the company marked the 65th anniversary of its Broken Bow manufacturing site. The facility began in October 1960 as a small tin building and is now a global production center for specimen-collection devices.
Speakers at the celebration traced the plant’s timeline from its first shipment on November 3, 1960 when 55 employees worked in a 13,753 square foot building assembling blood collection tubes and needles to the modern building that has expanded repeatedly over the decades and today employs more than 600 people. BD leaders and elected officials praised the plant’s local economic importance and its wider role in healthcare supply chains, and guests gathered afterward for a meal to visit and remember the site’s many changes.
“We have over 600 associates strong and many of you are here. That right there shows the heart that we have here in Broken Bow and in our plant. Those 600 people are skilled and they bring their expertise every day to make sure that the world of health is a lot stronger because of the tubes that we make right here in Broken Bow,” said Cindy Duncan, Associate Director-Manufacturing and Interim Plant Manager.
Bridget Bagnato, President of Specimen Management, emphasized the scale of the work done at the plant and the global reach of its products.
“Every second, 29 patients in the U.S. and 84 patients around the world use BD vacutainer products, and that’s the scale of your impact. It doesn’t stop there. The products are used to help shape the future of healthcare. They’ve been used in over 16,000 clinical studies since 2018, a staggering figure. The team here in Broken Bow produces billions of essential products, both across blood and urine collection each year,” she said.
BD’s Chief People Officer, Shana Neal, spoke about the company’s connection to the Custer County community and its investment in local students ahead of announcing an additional contribution to celebrate the anniversary.
“In the last five years alone, we’ve contributed over $40,000 to fund scholarships for local students pursuing careers in healthcare. Pretty amazing. And today, to celebrate our 65th anniversary, we’re proud to continue that legacy by donating an additional $6,500 to the Custer County Foundation,” Neal said.
A recorded message from BD CEO Tom Polen — played for the gathering — reflected pride in the plant’s growth and in the generations of workers who helped build it. Company representatives noted that Broken Bow is the largest manufacturer of BD Vacutainer tubes in the world, producing more than 2 billion tubes and related devices annually.
State and local leaders also offered remarks. Nebraska Lieutenant Governor Joe Kelly and Broken Bow Mayor Rod Sonnichsen spoke at the event, and video messages from Senator Pete Ricketts, Senator Deb Fischer and Representative Adrian Smith were shown. Attendees included long-time employees who remembered early manual processes and others who described watching the plant evolve through automation, new product lines and successive building additions — from the permanent building erected in 1961 to a molding facility in 2002 and an Additive Lab completed in 2019.
Company records shared at the event list a long line of plant managers dating back to Robert Gangel in the 1960s and note milestones in safety, packaging and product development: the move to VACUTAINER systems in the 1980s, the introduction of EDTA plastic tubes in the 1990s, and multiple safety and manufacturing awards over the years.
Organizers said the anniversary was meant both to honor the past and to underline the plant’s role in BD’s business as it continues to supply products used worldwide.
