On Friday, 26 July 2019, distinguished guests and dental professionals from all over the United States came together on to celebrate the grand opening of GC America’s new facility. The new building located in Alsip, Illinois will accommodates over 300 Associates and features a cutting edge education centre with seminar hall and training laboratory.
The grand opening began with a traditional Shinto blessing and purifying ceremony, performed by Senior Shinto Priest, Rev. Lawrence Koichi Barrish, of the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America. After the blessing spoke Dr. Kiyotaka Nakao (President and CEO, GC Corporation and GC International AG). “Not only does our family of Nakama get to work in a beautiful new space, this facility was created to unify our Associates by bringing them under one roof,” Dr. Nakao said. “All of our [Associates’] great work has led us to the grand opening of this wonderful facility.”
Further speeches were given by Dr. Jeffery Cole (President, ADA), Naoki Ito (Consul-General of Japan) and Torsten Gilles (President, GC America), who said “We are exceptionally proud of our new state-of-the-art education centre, which is the centrepiece of this new facility.” and “…we will be able to provide dental professionals with the most advanced tools to meet their continuing education needs.”
Construction of the new expansion started in in July 2017 and was completed in June 2019. The facility comprises 10 conference rooms, a training centre, seminar rooms, research and development spaces spread over 16 000 sqm in, as well as 20 000 sqm warehouse. GC America expects to gain tremendous value of bringing together all its functions under one roof from improving communication and innovation among Associates. This, in its turn, can help drive dental and orthodontic breakthroughs that improve and extend the lives of patients across the Americas.
