History
In July of 1986, Steve Vincent and Mike Shelton, two former Weyerhaeuser Company research analytical scientists, founded Columbia Analytical Services in Longview, Washington. Their goal was to establish the best commercial environmental testing laboratory in the Pacific Northwest. Over the years, Columbia Analytical has grown into one of the largest independent commercial testing laboratories in the United States – now with more than $40 million in revenues, seven laboratory locations, and multiple service centers.
In 1988 Columbia Analytical merged with EMCON, an environmental consulting organization, to gain capital and growth opportunities. By 1989, the company had outgrown its facilities in Longview and moved to a 25,000 square foot facility in Kelso, Washington and assumed management of EMCON’s San Jose laboratory operation.
The early 1990s saw expansion of the company to locations throughout the country in response to the needs of our clients. CAS purchased the assets of Golden State Analytical located in Southern California and started up laboratories in Seattle, Wash., and Anchorage, Alaska, in response to client needs.
By 1994, we had more than 200 employees and sales of over $15 million. Our Jacksonville, Florida, laboratory was started during this period to give us a presence in the rapidly growing Southeast marketplace. We established mobile laboratory operations in Phoenix, Arizona. The company also entered the air quality market by acquiring an air quality lab, Performance Analytical, located in Simi Valley, Calif.
In 1996, we acquired General Testing, a highly regarded laboratory in Rochester, New York, that gave us a strong presence in the important Northeast marketplace.
In 1997, with more than 275 employees and annual sales over $22 million, the Columbia Analytical management team orchestrated a leveraged buy-out from EMCON and established the company as an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). We became an independent, employee-owned company on April 4, 1997.
In January of 1999, we acquired Quality Analytical Laboratory in Redding, California from CH2M-Hill. In March of 1999 we purchased the assets of Ionics International, a dioxin testing laboratory in Houston, Texas. By the end of 1999 we had more than 300 employees and $28 million in sales.
The company entered the new millennium as one of the largest independent environmental testing labs in the United States. In 2003 the company added a complete drinking water capability in Kelso, expanded its dioxin testing capacity in Houston, and continued to pursue new markets, including product testing, for its air quality business in Simi Valley. This flexibility in the face of an ever-changing marketplace allowed the company to remain competitive.
The mid-2000’s saw the company consolidate its California operations by closing its Redding, San Jose and Canoga Park laboratories and focusing on the expansion of capabilities at our Simi Valley air toxics laboratory. We also purchased Transwest Geochem, an Arizona-based full-service laboratory with operations in both Phoenix and Tucson, and Desert Analytics in Tucson. TGI brought expanded field services resources to the company, as well as mobile laboratory capabilities including field portable X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) services, and expanded our Phoenix operations to a full-service environmental laboratory. Desert Analytics is a micro-elemental analytical laboratory specializing in services to research scientists in universities and the pharmaceutical, electronic, chemical and contract laboratory industries.
The company completed the expansion of two of its facilities which doubled the size of both the Kelso and Simi Valley laboratories. While increasing the capacity of these facilities, the expansions allowed the laboratories to add and expand capabilities to further capture existing or new markets. Kelso’s expansion included the addition of pharmaceutical testing and ultra-trace level testing for endocrine disruptors and personal care and pharmaceutical product (PPCP) testing in environmental and food samples. Simi Valley added specialized odor testing and expanded its water and soil capabilities.
In late 2007, we moved our Houston high resolution laboratory and our Jacksonville, Florida, laboratory into larger facilities for increased capacity and capabilities.
Looking to the future, Columbia Analytical continues to search for ways to best serve its expanding client base. This is achieved in many ways: lower detection limits, pursuit of new markets such as pharmaceutical and odor testing, quality initiatives, and responding to emerging client needs. From its modest start in 1986, to its current status as an industry leader, the company is poised for continued growth and stands committed to meeting the ever-changing needs of our customers.
