Freudenberg Medical Expands Costa Rica Operations

Contract manufacturer Freudenberg Medical is adding 8,600 square feet to its facility in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The addition includes a new ISO Class 7 cleanroom for catheter manufacturing and assembly, molding, extrusion, and packaging, as well as more office space. A thermoplastic extrusion line that can produce tubing from 4 to 170 inches in length, with capacity of up to one million parts per month, and new injection molding machines are planned for the space.

"Costa Rica has grown as an important medical device cluster in recent years and Freudenberg Medical is part of that story," said CEO Dr. Max Kley, in a prepared statement. "Freudenberg's FDA-registered cleanroom operation is located in the Coyol Free Zone, a business park that is a central hub for life science companies and medical device OEM manufacturing sites. In order to keep pace with rapid business growth, Freudenberg Medical has decided to increase its capabilities and capacity for catheter manufacturing, assemblies, injection molding, and medical tubing.”

Costa Rica’s profile in the medical manufacturing space indeed has taken on significant heft over the last couple of decades. It is the second largest exporter of medical devices in Latin America, after Mexico, and 63% of the output goes to the United States, according to Procomer, a governmental body that promotes foreign commerce. Five of the world’s top 10 medical device manufacturers have a presence in Costa Rica, and a robust supply chain has taken root to support them, not the least of which is Freudenberg Medical.

Part of the Freudenberg global technology group headquartered in Weinheim, Germany, Freudenberg Medical operates 11 manufacturing sites around the world. Capabilities range from the design, development, and manufacture of molded components, tubing, and finished devices to composite catheter shafts and hypotubes.

In November of last year, Freudenberg Medical completed construction of a 36,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Beverly, MA, near the Boston-area life science cluster. The new facility serves as its global headquarters.