Medical device makers with operations in Orange County added nearly 1,000 employees over the past 12 months for a growth rate of nearly 6%, according to Business Journal research.
The 35 companies on this week’s list of device makers combined to employ 18,002 workers through August, up from 17,032 last year.
Headcounts range from 11 at No. 35 Irvine-based Interventional Spine Inc. to more than 3,700 at Edwards Lifesciences Corp., our list’s No. 1.
Three local companies—Edwards, No. 11 Masimo Corp., and No. 23 Glaukos Corp.—accounted for much of the increase.
• Edwards, a heart valve maker in Irvine, grew local employment 10% to 3,702, up from 3,365 last year.
• Masimo, a patient-monitoring device maker also based in Irvine, hiked its worker total 8.7% to 585, up from 538 year-over-year.
• Glaukos, a glaucoma-treatment device maker in Laguna Hills, showed the highest percentage growth of any ranked firm, up 50% to 117, from 78 last year.
Glaukos has matched its 50% growth in employees with a 50% expansion in office and manufacturing space.
It has leased about 38,000 square feet in San Clemente, up from its 24,000-square-foot office in Laguna Hills and plans to move its headquarters there later this year.
BMOC
Edwards’ increase came to 337 workers—more than the entire work forces at more than half of the companies on the list.
“Edwards invests aggressively in structural heart disease and critical care technologies,” Christine McCauley, Edwards’ corporate vice president of human resources, said via email.
She said the new hires “support research and development, manufacturing,” and other areas.
Companywide Edwards employs 10,668 people, a total that was up 10% for the year.
Masimo (see related story, page 3) has seen steady growth on several fronts over the last year—greater adoption of its Root patient-monitoring system platform, an increase in market cap from $2 billion last year to about $3 billion in recent trading, and another 47 employees in Orange County.
Companywide Masimo has 3,756 employees, up 10.6% from 3,396 last year.
Glaukos debuted on the list this year, and reported 233 employees companywide—an increase of 57%.
It raised $118 million on its initial public offering in June 2015.
Shares initially set to be offered at $13 to $15 were upped to $18 just before the offering and the first trade happened at about $29.
Shares traded recently at about $32 for a $1 billion market cap.
“The increase in our Orange County employee base reflects primarily the continuing adoption of our flagship iStent glaucoma device, the ongoing implementation of our longer-term strategic growth plans and our transition to a public company in 2015,” a company spokesperson said via email.
Employee growth for Glaukos was split between Orange County and other sites: about 40 were added here and 45 elsewhere.
The spokesperson said the device maker has about 70 field salespeople in the United States, and direct sales operations in Germany, Australia, Canada and Japan.
Movement
There was some jockeying for position among the 10 largest medical device employers in Orange County.
The first four—Edwards at No. 1; Applied Medical Resources Corp. in Rancho Santa Margarita at No. 2; B. Braun Medical Inc. in Irvine at No. 3; and Beckman Coulter in Brea at No. 4—kept their slots year-over-year. Applied Medical added 343 workers for a 15.2% growth spurt. Braun and Beckman held steady at 1,300 and 1,100 employees, respectively.
The next three companies—Medtronic Neurovascular in Irvine, Alcon Research Ltd. in Irvine, and MicroVention Inc. in Tustin—shuffled positions.
No. 7 MicroVention kept its 800 workers but toggled slots because of moves by Medtronic and Alcon.
No. 5 Medtronic Neurovascular—formerly Covidien Plc. and now part of Medtronic Inc. in Minnesota—came in at 900 workers; a second Medtronic division, which makes heart valves, employs 672 in Santa Ana.
No. 6 Alcon has its U.S. operations in Ft. Worth, Texas, and is owned by Novartis AG in Basel, Switzerland, a $191 billion-market cap pharmaceutical company.
Alcon was one of the few decliners on the list—cutting local staff by 180 workers or 17%, from 1,057 last year to 877 this year.
Companies that round out the top 10—the Medtronic heart valve unit at No. 8, Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc. in Tustin at No. 9, and KaVo Kerr Group in Orange at No. 10—showed modest growth.
No. 11 Masimo and No. 12 Abbott Medical Optics in Santa Ana also held their spots.
No. 13 St. Jude Medical Inc., a cardiovascular device maker in Irvine, added 78 employees for a total of 500, good for growth of 18.5%.
St. Jude’s Minnesota-based parent agreed in April to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories in Abbott Park, Ill., for $25 billion.
