NuVasive to Expand Manufacturing

Officials with spine company NuVasive Inc. announced a planned expansion of the company’s manufacturing capabilities and that the NuVasive is “actively exploring” locations to build a new state-of-the-art medical device facility for its spinal implant and instrument manufacturing.

The new facility, which would extend the company’s existing manufacturing capabilities, will support efforts to increase the amount of products it internally manufactures, and “enhance its focus on operational excellence and efforts to drive accelerated operating margin expansion,” company officials said in a release.

The construction and operation of the proposed 130,000-square-foot facility is expected to create hundreds of new jobs, employing more than 300 people on a permanent basis in the disciplines of manufacturing and quality engineers, tool makers, machinists and manufacturing technicians. The new planned facility is expected to house approximately 100 computer numerical control (CNC) machine tools, and inspection equipment, as well as clean-room operations.

The company has begun an outreach process in targeted locations to determine local officials’ interest in supporting the site selection, with a decision expected by the end of the year. The goal is to begin manufacturing at the new facility by year-end 2016. A company spokesperson confirmed for Orthopedic Design & Technology that they have not yet commented on the specific areas under consideration.

“This new manufacturing facility reflects the demand for NuVasive’s innovative spine technology,” said Gregory T. Lucier, NuVasive’s Chairman and CEO. “Along with providing additional capacity to meet this rising demand, our new state-of-the-art facility will further our commitment to expand our internal capabilities to self-manufacture our spinal products and select instruments over time. In addition to providing expanded capacity to meet increased demand, the expansion of our manufacturing facility footprint will enable NuVasive to realize increased operating efficiencies and further our ability to achieve our goal of more than 20 percent operating margins as we drive beyond $1 billion in revenue. As we continue to move towards greater self-manufacturing, we also expect to strengthen our strategic relationships with key vendor partners to complement our internal efforts.”

The company will provide additional details regarding capital investment associated with the new facility once the site selection process is complete, officials noted.

NuVasive is headquartered in San Diego, Calif.