SANFORD — Sixty-five workers, among about 225 poised to lose their jobs Dec. 31 when the Whatman plant in south Sanford is slated to close, will be working in the same location for a new company early in the new year.

Maine Manufacturing LLC president Bill Emhiser said Tuesday that the start-up company is finalizing negotiations with GE Healthcare Life Sciences, the parent company of Whatman, and will take over a portion of their manufacturing process and lease the Whatman plant and equipment beginning Jan. 1.

Emhiser told the Town Council Tuesday that Maine Manufacturing LLC will employ 65 workers at the 90,000 square foot plant on Community Drive, adding to the company’s current 15 employees. Maine Manufacturing LLC expects to add 15 to 20 more jobs before March 31, with another 15 to 20 expected to by the end of May, he said.

Maine Manufacturing LLC manufactures diagnostic and laboratory supplies for the medical industry, supplying products like centrifuge tubes, pipettes, filters, and test kits to companies like Jackson Laboratory and Idexx. It sports a brand new Research and Development lab and provides design and prototyping services.

GE Healthcare Life Sciences bought Whatman, a 260-year-old British-based firm, in April 2008. Six months later, the parent company announced it would close the Sanford plant, which moved here from Scarborough in 2003, at the end of this year, idling 225 workers. GE Healthcare Life Science intends to consolidate at their plant in Cardiff, Wales.

All that changed when Craig Cunningham, who used to be Whatman’s chief engineer in Sanford, opened his own firm, Maine Manufacturing LLC. Emhiser, a former chief executive officer of the British-based Whatman Plc., based in London, joined Maine Manufacturing LLC as president in December 2008. Not long afterward, negotiations commenced.

“We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made,” Emhiser told the town council Tuesday. “We like to think we’re one of the success stories in town.”

The announcement came as welcome news here, where the October unemployment rate stood at 10.4 percent, according to the Maine Department of Labor.

“Thank you for coming to Sanford and taking over that facility,” said councilor Alan Walsh.

Emhiser appeared at the Town Council Meeting as part of a close-out hearing on a $100,000 Community Development Block Grant, which was matched by the company 3 to 1. The grant provided working capital and allowed the firm to hire 12 employees to augment the three on staff.

Maine Manufacturing will subcontract work from GE Healthcare Life Sciences, complimenting the work the company does for a number of other clients.

For the short term, Maine Manufacturing LLC will work out of two locations ”“ their location on Eagle Drive and the Whatman plant on Community Drive, consolidating at the Whatman plant probably in March, Cunningham said.

“We’ve built a fairly decent business,” said Cunningham this morning. “We hope to continue what we’ve got and build and work from there.”

— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.