Freudenberg Medical building second production plant in Costa Rica

Coyol, Costa Rica – Freudenberg Medical is building a second manufacturing site in Costa Rica, specifically focused on the production of minimally invasive catheters.

The medical and pharmaceutical products manufacturer has earmarked $25 million (€23 million) for the investment, which will see the company expanding technologies to deliver “increasingly complex products” to global customers.

The new facility will be close to the company’s existing 30,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in the Coyol Free Zone, which has been operational since 12 years ago.

By 2025, the existing facility will become Freudenberg Medical's specialised site for "primary processing technologies", including moulding and extrusion of thermoplastics for medical applications.

Meanwhile assembly operations will be moved to the new facility, the groundbreaking for which was announced 13 Feb.

“This expansion strengthens our strategy of being close to our customers,” said Dr Mark Ostwald, CEO of Freudenberg Medical.

The facility, he said, will deliver “cost-effective manufacturing capabilities on a large scale.”

It will be dedicated to the assembly of high-volume minimally invasive catheters for electrophysiology, vascular and structural heart therapies and other medical devices that require high-precision manual assembly.

In the first phase, the new unit will cover 50,000 square feet and house three ISO 7 cleanrooms.

Within three years of opening, Freudenberg Medical aims to expand the site by another 50,000 square feet, to quadruple its total footprint in Costa Rica.

The company also aims to triple the number of employees to 900 over the next three years, added Roger Gomez, VP, general manager of Freudenberg Medical in Costa Rica.