Celebrating 50 years: a brief history of Sterilin

The birth of Sterilin, 50 years ago, was an exciting time during which the concept of disposable laboratory plastics was revolutionary, bringing new levels of convenience and flexibility to laboratory routines; replacing the time-consuming and costly task of washing and autoclaving glassware.

It was in 1960, that one of the founders of Sterilin, Richard Tait (then sales manager for B J Hamlin – an importer of semi-finished plastic products) first captured this vision. As a result of his enthusiasm, Hamlin diversified into laboratory products by importing disposable plastic Petri dishes from Sweden.

An early letter to the Department of Health quoted just over £7 per case of 500 plates (seven pounds, five shillings and ten pence, to be exact!). Today, 50 years later, this would be equivalent to around £75 per case – the fact that Sterilin is able to offer such products for much less than this clearly demonstrates the company’s strong commitment to offering good value to customers.
 
Competitive edge
In the mid-1960s, Hamlin was granted a licence to manufacture Petri dishes and a new company was formed – Sterilin (from ‘sterile’ and ‘Hamlin’). Integral to the business at this time were Richard Tait, his brother Thomas, and Mike Kreuzer. The strategy of the company, from very early on, was to invest in faster, more-efficient equipment and processes to give it a competitive edge in the market place.