Smith & Nephew opens $55m plant in Costa Rica

Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN) said last week it opened a new $55 million orthopedic device manufacturing facility in Costa Rica.

The new facility is expected to add 250 jobs, lifting the employment numbers for the company in the country up to 1,950.

“The Government of Costa Rica is pleased to inaugurate the new plant of Smith & Nephew in Coyol, with a capacity to expand the operation by up to 250 new employees. This is the result of the effort of the country to reinforce the conditions to compete and the alliance we have with business and productive sectors. Costa Rica is a stable and growing economy, with low inflation rates, and one of the top ranking countries for competitiveness. The expansion of Smith and Nephew comes to reaffirm the operation and our country’s capacity to attract foreign investment” Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis said in a press release.

Smith & Nephew said the new facility will support manufacturing of its Coblation arthroscopic technology designed for the precise removal of soft tissue.

“Sports Medicine is a fast growing market where unmet clinical needs lend room for procedural and technological innovation. We are proud to open this new facility in Costa Rica, which, alongside our established sites in the U.S., gives us the state-of-the-art manufacturing platform that will support our ambition to expand our pioneering sports medicine business,” Smith & Nephew CEO Olivier Bohuon said in a prepared release.

“From the new manufacturing facility, Smith & Nephew will manufacture medical devices that will help improve the health of thousands of people around the world. We are very proud of this new phase that begins today, and excited by the prospects for the future,” Smith & Nephew Costa Rica operations veep & GM Andrés Salazar said in prepared remarks.

“The manufacturing sector, especially the one of medical devices, is key to the process of diversification and consolidation of Costa Rica in global value chains, impacting positively on exports and investment and re investment indexes. Costa Rica has been working to be a counterpart capable of responding to the requirements, both in terms of talent and human skills, and in business climate and incentives. These conditions converge and enable a productive ecosystem that is moving away more and more from the manufacture and more into higher added value manufacturing activities, activities with more technological content, productive and business sophistication, as well as complex research, development and innovation activities. In this scenario where Smith & Nephew takes the decision to expand local operations, they are showing the commitment of the company with Costa Rica, as well as the potential of the country. From the main government, we will continue working to promote and maintain appropriate conditions for the development of the company in the country, efforts that I promise myself as representative of this sector and the Executive Branch” Minister of Foreign Commerce Alexander Mora said in a prepared statement.

In August, Smith & Nephew said it closed the $350 million sale of its gynecology business, including the Truclear hysteroscopy system, to Medtronic (NYSE:MDT).

The London-based healthcare giant also made good on its promise to put $300 million of the proceeds toward a stock buyback plan.

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