Apple taps K2 Kinetics to design equipment to build COVID-19 testing

Springettsbury Township, York County-based K2 Kinetics is working with Apple to design new equipment that will help accelerate the manufacture of COVID-19 test kits for hospitals across the country.

K2 Kinetics, an industrial automation firm that primarily engineers and designs equipment for the food and beverage industry, was contacted by Apple last month to design equipment for COPAN Diagnostics.

Apple announced Thursday it would award $10 million to COPAN, a market leader in sample collection kits, to expand its production of kits to more than a million a week by early July. As part of its partnership with COPAN, Apple will support the company’s expansion to a larger facility in southern California, including providing advanced equipment that Apple helped design. K2 Kinetics, along with Waukesha, Wisconsin-based custom automation firm MWES, were chosen by the Cupertino, California tech giant to help it create the equipment for COPAN.

“We’ve always positioned ourselves as an automation company ready, willing and able to move quickly for our partners,” said Kevin Keller, managing director at K2. “This project was presented to us and we immediately deployed the resources to get the job done, given the urgency of this pandemic.

“From the very beginning, we felt in sync with the Apple team and have shown our ability to be nimble and pivot accordingly throughout. We consider ourselves fortunate that Apple selected K2 and it’s been a true honor to work with their amazing team,” he said.

Although K2 specializes in food and beverage, the project proved to be a good fit for K2, said Phil Lapp, a spokesperson for K2.

“It required design, engineering and servicing systems integration – which is what we do,” he said. “We have a best in class team here of automation experts with over 130 years of talent in various industries.”