3M Co. is moving some jobs to its 3M Espe dental products unit in Irvine as part of a plant closing in Oklahoma.
3M, a St. Paul, Minn.-based diversified manufacturer, is closing a dental implant plant in Ardmore, Okla., by the end of the year. It plans to move operations to Irvine and Minnesota in the next several months, according to the website of the Oklahoman newspaper.
It’s unclear how many jobs will be coming to Irvine. The Ardmore plant has 125 workers, the report said, though some of those jobs could be eliminated.
Larry Lair, 3M Espe’s vice president and general manager, said in the report that 3M remains “confident and optimistic that the implant business can succeed if we consolidate operations into other 3M locations.”
3M Espe, with an estimated 200 workers in Irvine, makes a variety of products for general, pediatric and restorative dentistry. Categories include dental implants, crowns, adhesives, cements and tooth whitening products.
It’s part of a dental products herd in OC that includes Sybron Dental Specialties Inc., a Orange-based unit of Washington’s Danaher Corp. with about 630 workers, and Europe’s Nobel Biocare Holding AG, which employs about 290 people in a Yorba Linda operation.
