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Este informe no está disponible en español. CARIBBEAN BUSINESSMedtronic’s New $28 Million Expansion To Create 300 JobsBy MARIALBA MARTINEZMarch 28, 2002 Medtronic Puerto Rico Inc. will soon commence a $28 million expansion of its 90,000-square-foot complex in Villalba that will increase the plant’s area to150,000 square feet and add 300 new jobs, said Medtronic General Manager German Torres. "This is the third expansion at Medtronic’s Villalba operations in less than four years," said Torres. "In 1998, the electrode and catheter facility was enlarged with a $12 million investment, and between 2000 and 2001, the neurological division invested $5 million transferring its electrodes products to a new 24,000-square-foot facility where more than 100 jobs were created." Some 200 employees will be involved in building the new facilities, which will cost $18 million. An additional $10 million will be invested in new equipment and machinery, which, in conjunction with infrastructure improvements such as new elevators, 700 new parking spaces, and pedestrian crossings, will connect the facility’s three plants. The Villalba complex has two divisions: cardiac rhythm management (CRM) & neurological. An additional 60,000 square feet is being added to the CRM division due to the increasing demand for electrodes used for pacemakers and other medical devices. In October 2001, cable electrodes for the company’s active tremor control therapy system, Itrel & synergy spinal cord stimulation system, and Attain OTW Model 4193 began to be produced in Puerto Rico, as are most of Medtronic’s pacemaker electrodes and pacemakers. In Villalba, Medtronic produces more than 700,000 electrodes annually for different uses in the company’s pacemakers. Approximately 90% are of them used for treating irregular heartbeats (bradycardia & tachyarrhythmia) and for ablation catheters–which burn abnormal cells in the heart’s pathways that cause arrhythmia. The remaining 10% of the units are used for treating neurological & spinal diseases and diabetes. This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
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