NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA), a leading medical device company focused on transforming spine surgery with minimally disruptive, procedurally-integrated solutions, today announced that it intends to expand its manufacturing capabilities to meet growing demand for NuVasive’s innovative spine technology and is actively exploring locations to build-out a new state-of-the-art medical device facility for its spinal implant and instrument manufacturing. This new facility, which would extend the Company’s existing manufacturing capabilities, will support the Company’s 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.
The build-out 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 gauge local officials interest in supporting the Company’s site selection. The Company expects to make a decision on the qualifying site by the end of 2015, with the objective of beginning manufacturing at the new facility by year-end 2016.
Gregory T. Lucier, NuVasive’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “This new manufacturing facility reflects the demand for NuVasive’s innovative spine technology. 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 20%+ 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.”
“With our expanded manufacturing efforts, we are delighted to support our communities with new investments and new jobs as we continue to transform spine surgery with the cutting-edge innovative products and procedures that NuVasive is known for. This new facility not only represents growth for NuVasive, but also for the city where it will ultimately be located. NuVasive is an active corporate citizen in the communities in which we operate, and we look forward to the new partnerships that could be established through this site selection.”
The Company expects to provide additional details regarding capital investment associated with the new facility once the site selection process is complete.
About NuVasive
NuVasive is an innovative global medical device company that is changing spine surgery with minimally disruptive surgical products and procedurally-integrated solutions for the spine. NuVasive has emerged from a small startup to become the #3 player in the $9 billion global spine market and remains focused on market share-taking strategies as the Company continues on its path to become the industry’s leading spine company. NuVasive offers a comprehensive spine portfolio of more than 90 unique products developed to improve spine surgery and patient outcomes. The Company’s principal procedural solution is its Maximum Access Surgery, or MAS®, platform for lateral spine fusion. MAS was designed to provide safer, reproducible, and clinically proven outcomes, and is a highly differentiated solution with fully integrated neuromonitoring, customizable exposure, and a broad offering of application-specific implants and fixation devices designed to address a variety of pathologies.
