Mike Barbella02.09.11
Helix Medical LLC is about to get closer to its Latin American customers. The Carpinteria, Calif.-based supplier of biocompatible silicone medical devices is building a manufacturing plant in Costa Rica that eventually will employ more than 100 people.
The company is spending more than $4 million on the new facility, which is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2012. Helix is leasing property for the manufacturing plant in the Coyol Free Trade Zone and business park in Alajuela, the country’s second-largest city that is just 12 miles northwest of the capital, San Jose.
Helix executives did not disclose the size of the new plant, but said it will offer contract manufacturing services that include silicone extrusion, silicone molding, thermoplastic molding and assembly operations. It will be ISO 13485:2003 certified and have Class 7 and 8 cleanrooms as well. According to a news release, Helix is building the new facility to be closer to its Latin American customers.
“We chose Costa Rica to be close to our customers in Latin America,” said Andy Becker, vice president and general manager for Helix’s Carpinteria and Costa Rican operations. “The country offers a large medical device community with a skilled workforce as well as a good reputation for security and infrastructure.”
The construction of a Costa Rican manufacturing facility is the second expansion project for Helix within the last 12 months. In February 2010, the company opened Helix Medical Europe KG, a 55,000-square-foot facility in Kaiserslauten, Germany, that provides various services, including custom molding of silicone components, thermoplastics and TPEs (thermoplastic elastomers); multi-component molding; and close tolerance single and multi-lumen extrusion of silicone and TPEs.
In addition to its manufacturing plants in Germany and Carpenteria, Helix maintains operations in BaldwinPark, Calif.; Gloucester,Mass.; Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland; and Shenzen, China.
The company is spending more than $4 million on the new facility, which is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2012. Helix is leasing property for the manufacturing plant in the Coyol Free Trade Zone and business park in Alajuela, the country’s second-largest city that is just 12 miles northwest of the capital, San Jose.
Helix executives did not disclose the size of the new plant, but said it will offer contract manufacturing services that include silicone extrusion, silicone molding, thermoplastic molding and assembly operations. It will be ISO 13485:2003 certified and have Class 7 and 8 cleanrooms as well. According to a news release, Helix is building the new facility to be closer to its Latin American customers.
“We chose Costa Rica to be close to our customers in Latin America,” said Andy Becker, vice president and general manager for Helix’s Carpinteria and Costa Rican operations. “The country offers a large medical device community with a skilled workforce as well as a good reputation for security and infrastructure.”
The construction of a Costa Rican manufacturing facility is the second expansion project for Helix within the last 12 months. In February 2010, the company opened Helix Medical Europe KG, a 55,000-square-foot facility in Kaiserslauten, Germany, that provides various services, including custom molding of silicone components, thermoplastics and TPEs (thermoplastic elastomers); multi-component molding; and close tolerance single and multi-lumen extrusion of silicone and TPEs.
In addition to its manufacturing plants in Germany and Carpenteria, Helix maintains operations in BaldwinPark, Calif.; Gloucester,Mass.; Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland; and Shenzen, China.