Medical firm establishing Las Vegas training center

Tuesday, April 24, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

Varian Medical Systems Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of cancer care systems, plans to develop a training center in Las Vegas that would employ about 85 people.

Varian, a publicly traded company based in Palo Alto, Calif., already has committed to developing a distribution and logistics center at the Spencer Airport Center at Sunset Road and Spencer Street.

The training center, proposed at the same site, would give the company quick access to McCarran International Airport's 438 daily flights to 82 nonstop destinations to bring technicians to the city to learn to use Varian's medical products.

The company is scheduled to appear before the Nevada Commission on Economic Development May 9 to seek sales and use tax, business tax and ongoing property tax abatements.

Bob Shriver, executive director of the commission, said he expects commissioners will support the request for tax incentives.

"This is precisely the type of company we're trying to attract to Nevada," Shriver said.

Varian has been recruited by the Nevada Development Authority for the last three months, but the NDA has a policy of not commenting on companies considering relocation to the state.

Shriver said the distribution and logistics center planned at the Spencer Airport Center will be stocked with parts and equipment for the machines Varian manufactures and the close access to McCarran will enable the company to move items quickly to locations worldwide.

For similar reasons, the company is planning the training center in the same location. Varian will be able to fly technicians from companies that buy the equipment to train them in Las Vegas.

Varian employs more than 2,300 people in manufacturing sites in North America and Europe and in 40 sales and support offices around the world. Its primary business sites are at company headquarters in Palo Alto, the current training center in nearby Milpitas and other operations in Mountain View, Calif.; Salt Lake City; Chicago; Charleston, S.C.; and Charlottesville, Va. The company also has an international presence in Crawley, England; Espoo, Finland; Buc, France; Baden and Zug, Switzerland; and Tokyo.

There are more than 4,750 Varian Medical Systems devices in service around the world. The company produces the Clinac medical linear accelerator and the Ximatron simulator for cancer radiotherapy, treating thousands of cancer patients every day.

The company's X-ray tubes are sold to most major diagnostic equipment manufacturers, company spokesman Spencer Sias said, and those machines are used for mammography and CT scanning.

At the end of Varian's most recent fiscal year, ending Sept. 29, the company reported sales of $690 million. In the company's first quarter ending Dec. 29, Varian reported earnings of $9.3 million, 28 cents a share, on revenue of $161.4 million. The company's second-quarter earnings are due to be released Wednesday.

Varian is led by Richard M. Levy, president and chief executive officer.

The Spencer Airport Center, a business park just south of McCarran, is operated by Nevada Real Estate Group, headed by Lee Phelps.