Orange County’s medical device industry is a consistent cog in the county’s economic engine. Last year was no exception.
The county’s 25 largest medical device and instrument makers added 380 workers in the past year. The 4% increase versus a year earlier gave local device makers a total of 11,007 employees, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
No. 1 Beckman Coulter Inc. retained the top spot on the list with 2,554 workers in Fullerton and Brea, up 10% compared to a year earlier. The employee gain is in line with Beckman’s 9% sales growth in the past year.
The Fullerton-based medical instrument maker did some restructuring in the past year, including combining its dominant clinical diagnostics business and its smaller biomedical research unit into one. That move could eventually cost up to 350 jobs companywide, Beckman said.
Beckman’s consolidation is part of Chief Executive Scott Garrett’s strategy to streamline operations. Garrett replaced longtime Beckman leader John Wareham in January.
Beckman makes testing and research equipment for medical laboratories, drug makers and universities, among other customers.
Last month, the company surprised some on Wall Street after it revised its second-quarter profit reported in July to reflect a lower tax rate. Beckman said the change came about from an ongoing analysis of the company’s shift to a new leasing model which allows its customers to lease its medical gear rather than buy it.
No. 2 Edwards Lifesciences Corp. of Irvine said it had 1,723 OC workers, up 7% compared to a year earlier. Edwards, in its fifth year as an independent company after being spun out of Baxter Healthcare Corp., has stayed the course with its heart valve franchise.
Edwards has seen sales growth of profitable products such as its Perimount Magna heart valve, which it bills as longer lasting than competitive ones.
Meanwhile, No. 3 B. Braun Medical Inc., an Irvine maker of intravenous solutions and delivery systems, said its OC workforce was unchanged at 1,281 workers. B. Braun is part of Germany’s B. Braun Melsungen AG.
B. Braun and its former supplier-turned-rival, No. 18 ICU Medical Inc., have benefited on the revenue side from a push in the healthcare industry to cut down on accidental needle stick injuries to workers.
But on the employee front, San Clemente-based ICU posted the biggest decline in local workers on the list, off 38% to 170.
More declines could be coming. In June, ICU said it’s shifting its production and manufacturing to Salt Lake City after spending $35 million to buy a plant from Hospira Inc., a hospital supply company that’s its major client. ICU’s companywide employment jumped 32% to 660 on the acquisition.
No. 4 Alcon Laboratories Inc., a unit of Swiss conglomerate Nestl & #233; SA with a large Irvine operation, reported 2% job growth to 605 workers.
Alcon makes eye drugs, surgical products and instruments and competes with Irvine’s Allergan Inc. and No. 6 Advanced Medical Optics Inc. of Santa Ana.
Advanced Medical saw a 12% increase in local jobs to 424. Advanced Medical has been one of the fastest-growing companies in OC, thanks to a pair of sizable acquisitions.
After buying Pfizer Inc.’s cataract surgery business in spring 2004, the company spent $1.3 billion earlier this year to acquire Visx Inc., a Santa Clara-based maker of lasers used in eye surgery.
No. 5 Medtronic Heart Valves saw its Santa Ana-area workforce grow 9% to 563. The unit of Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc. is the No. 3 player nationally in heart valves, behind Edwards and St. Jude Medical Inc., also based in Minneapolis.
No. 7 Avail Medical Products Inc. in Santa Ana saw its local jobs fall 27% to 400. The drop follows two years of big job growth. Avail didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Overall, 12 of the 25 companies on this year’s list reported job gains. Three companies reported job losses, and five companies reported no change. The Business Journal made estimates for five companies.
The largest percentage job gain came from a newcomer,No. 21 SenoRx Inc., an Aliso Viejo-based maker of devices for less-invasive breast cancer treatment. SenoRx, a venture-backed company, said its local workforce grew 42% to 128 local workers.
SenoRx’s job gains came from adding workers to its manufacturing and quality control operations, said Chief Executive Lloyd Malchow.
No. 15 IntraLase Corp., an Irvine eye laser maker, reported the second largest percentage job gain, with a 41% growth in local employment to 190 workers.
IntraLase, which went public last October, said earlier this year that it had boosted spending and hired workers in technical and clinical support services, sales, marketing and production. IntraLase also moved to larger headquarters in the past year.
Other top-10 companies include No. 8 Sybron Dental Specialties Inc., an Orange-based dental device and supply company that reported a 17% increase in employment to 388 local workers, and No. 10 Advanced Sterilization Products, a Johnson & Johnson business unit in Irvine that had a 4% gain to 271 workers.
Three companies dropped off this year’s list of top 25 device makers: MP Biomedicals Inc., an Irvine company founded by Milan Panic who earlier created what is now Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in Costa Mesa; Ossur North America, a maker of prosthetic limbs in Aliso Viejo; and Terumo Cardiovascular Systems Corp., which makes heart surgery products in Tustin.
