APOGENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. /Portsmouth, New Hampshire OK, It Might Not Be Exciting, But It Works.(THE NEW AMERICA)

Byline: Marilyn Alva

Frank Jellinek is the first to admit that beakers, vials, tube racks, covered glass and microscopic slides won't set the business world on fire.

But they've done wonders for Apogent Technologies Inc.'s financial health. The firm makes laboratory and life sciences equipment for markets in the U.S. and abroad. Products include glass objects as well as everything from pap smear slides to drug-testing kits.

"Our products are in every lab in the world, and they are used every day," said Jellinek, the firm's longtime chief executive.

No one's peered into every lab in the world to make sure. But with 10,000 product categories -- and hundreds of thousands of products within each -- Apogent is a top supplier of consumable medical products worldwide.

"They make almost anything you would find in a laboratory that is taken out of a package and can be thrown away," said Scott Jones, analyst with A.G. Edwards.

No one product is a blockbuster for Apogent. Rather, the firm's sheer number and diversity of products keep it growing even as drug companies, facing slower growth, trim spending.