April 2, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
WILMINGTON, Mass. – Tecomet, Inc., owner of Symmetry Medical OEM Solutions, a maker of surgical equipment and orthopedic implants, will shutter two of its manufacturing plants next year, eliminating 319 jobs.
The company said closing the plants in New Bedford and Avila, Ind. will boost efficiency and eliminate redundancy. The company said products manufactured at the Symmetry Medical OEM Solutions plant in Avila are similar to those made in other locations.
“Both facilities have struggled to make a profit over the past several years,” according to a statement released by the company.
OEM Solutions has over 450 customers, nearly 2,300 employees and 13 facilities in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, France and Malaysia.
The layoffs will occur in shifts, with terminations beginning in June, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filed March 30 in Indiana. The Avila plant, which employs 129 people, will completely shutter by Dec. 31 and the New Bedford plant, which currently employs 190, is expected to shut down in March 2016. Layoffs at the New Bedford facility are expected to occur in four waves over the next year, the company said. Employees who will receive pink slips include machinists, technical workers, and administrative staff. The manufacturing operations at the plants would be relocated to other facilities owned by the company.
In its filing with the state, the company said it will work to help laid-off employees, including offering opportunities at other facilities where possible.
While the company is closing its Avila plant, at the same time it is expanding its facility in nearby Warsaw, Ind., the Journal Gazette reported. The Warsaw site is OEM Solutions headquarters. Adding manufacturing capacity at the Warsaw site, which employs 400, will allow Symmetry to accommodate more volume.
In December 2014 Tecomet Inc., a capital investment firm specializing in medical device companies, acquired Symmetry Medical’s OEM Solutions business segment in a $450 million deal. The acquisition made Tecomet the biggest orthopedic contract manufacturer in the world. As of December 2014, it had 18 facilities based in five countries on three continents. The Symmetry Medical OEM Solutions business is a leading supplier of contract manufacturing and product solutions for the surgical instrument, orthopedic implant, and sterilization case and tray mark.
In addition to orthopedic devices, Tecomet also manufactures products for the aerospace industry.
Last year Symmetry Medical closed a plant in England, eliminating 40 positions.
In 2014 Symmetry Medical introduced its Dual Connection Offset Acetabular Reamer Driver, which is used during total hip arthroplasty surgery to introduce acetabular reamers to the hip joint. The driver features a drive shaft designed and tested to meet the demands of THA surgery.
