The 34 largest medical device makers in Orange County experienced 2% job growth during the 12 months ended in August, according to the Business Journal’s annual list.
The companies added 327 jobs and combined to employ 16,655 people in the county. The list details companies that are either based in Orange County or have significant operations here.
Medical device makers form a key segment of the county’s economy and have had six years of growth, including a 6% increase in employment for the companies on last year’s list. Replacement heart valves, other implantable devices, lasers used in eye surgery, catheters, and surgical instruments are among the local companies’ product portfolios.
Ten of the companies on the list added jobs; 13 reported fewer workers; six reported no changes; and five companies’ numbers are Business Journal estimates.
Five companies are new to this year’s list: No. 29, R&D Medical Products Inc.; No. 31, eVent Medical Ltd., both in Lake Forest; No. 33, Irvine-based Interventional Spine Inc.; No. 34, Fotona LLC in San Clemente; and No. 28, AcuFocus Inc. in Irvine.
• Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. once again was the largest employer on the list. It reported having 3,140 Orange County workers, up 5% from a year ago.
The maker of replacement heart valves and critical care products became the Orange County medical device sector’s largest employer in 2009 when it posted a 10% increase in local jobs and passed traditional leader Beckman Coulter Inc., now a unit of Washington-based conglomerate Danaher Corp.
• Applied Medical Resources Corp., based in Rancho Santa Margarita, remained the No. 2 device maker. It said its OC workforce grew 13% to 2,085.
The low-profile company—which remains privately held even after a major shareholder pushed for an initial public offering at the end of 2012—makes catheters, stents, clamps, guide wires and devices used in laparoscopic surgeries.
• B. Braun Medical, a Pennsylvania-based company with a plant in Irvine and warehouse in Westminster, came in at No. 3 with 1,300 employees, unchanged from a year ago. It’s part of German device maker B. Braun Melsungen AG.
• Beckman and Tustin-based MicroVention Inc., a unit of Terumo Corp. in Japan, tied for No. 4 on this year’s list.
Beckman, which makes diagnostic devices and testing supplies, said its local jobs fell 8.3% to 1,100.
The company explained the reason for the reduced number of jobs in a statement, saying that “in the past year, there have been some organization changes where some of the Brea-based people now report to other Danaher operating companies.”
Cerebral aneurysm device maker MicroVention reported 1,100 workers, up 22% from a year ago.
Terumo has annual sales of $4.4 billion and operates in more than 160 countries.
Alcon Research Ltd., the list’s No. 6 device maker, reported an 8% decline in jobs to 765. The unit of Fort Worth, Texas-based Alcon Inc. last month acquired Aliso Viejo-based startup WaveTec Vision Systems Inc. to add to its cataract surgery lineup.
• No. 7, Medtronic Heart Valves, reported a 1% jobs drop to 690 workers.
The Minnesota-based company operates a Santa Ana plant that it calls a “center of excellence” for tissue heart valves.
Medtronic and Edwards compete on several fronts, including less-invasive heart valves. The companies also settled a long-running patent lawsuit this year that could bring Edwards more than $1 billion.
Medtronic could rank even higher among device companies that appear on the list next year—the company said in July that it would buy fellow device maker Covidien PLC for $42.9 billion in cash and stock.
The deal is scheduled to close in the fourth quarter or early next year and would create a company with annual sales of $26 billion, second only to New Brunswick, N.J.-based behemoth Johnson & Johnson in the medical device ranks.
Medtronic and Covidien have about 1,340 workers in Orange County between them.
• Covidien returns as the list’s No. 9 device maker, with 650 employees, down 3% from a year ago. The Ireland-based company operates from Mansfield, Mass., and has chosen Irvine for its unit that makes devices to treat strokes, opening a research and development center there in 2012.
• Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc. in Tustin repeated at No. 8 with a 3% employment decline to 669 local jobs. The unit of Japan-based Toshiba Corp. distributes, services, markets and sells various devices, including ultrasound and computed tomography scanners.
• KaVo Kerr Group, an Orange-based diversified dental device maker, rounded out the top 10 with 600 local workers, unchanged from a year ago. The company was previously known as Sybron Dental Specialties Inc. and is another Danaher operating unit.
The list’s No. 15 entry, Irvine-based Endologix Inc. (see story, page 22), said its local jobs were up 22% to 350. Endologix makes devices for treating aortic abdominal aneurysms.
A pair of newcomers to the list posted the biggest job percentage gains and declines.
• EVent had the biggest percentage gain among the 34 companies, adding seven jobs during the year for a 28% hiring gain to 32 workers.
The company makes ventilation devices that help severely ill hospital patients breathe easier.
Chief Executive Kirk Inoue told the Business Journal in January that he was exclusively using overseas markets for eVent’s growth and had plans to return to the U.S. market by the end of the year.
“I terminated all the U.S. sales. U.S. sales [were costing] too much. You have to have a base of salespeople all over the country, and you have to have a certain volume of business to keep it profitable.”
Interventional Spine said its jobs declined by 31% from 16 to 11. The company makes implantable devices used in spine surgeries and said in February that the Food and Drug Administration cleared 11 additional sizes of its Opticage expandable interbody fusion device for patients who require lumbar fusion surgery.
