Greatbatch to Close ElectroChem Oregon Plant; Jobs Go to Mexico

The ElectroChem Solutions Inc. subsidiary of Greatbatch Inc. has announced that it will move its portable medical manufacturing operations now located in Beaverton, OR, to a new facility in Tijuana, Mexico, in a measure that will affect about 170 workers.

The Beaverton plant, formerly Micro Power Electronics, was purchased by Greatbatch in 2011. The 80,000-sq-ft facility makes a range of high-end batteries for niche applications including the portable medical, military, and environmental markets.

"This move will allow us to leverage our global footprint and investments we made down there [in Mexico] over the past 10 years," said Christopher Knospe, director of global

communications and government relations for Greatbatch. Knospe said the company will provide its associates with a comprehensive package of services, including placement assistance and career counseling, to assist them in their transition into new jobs at other companies.

The company says that only the medical application battery manufacturing operations will go to Mexico. The remainder of the facility's production will be relocated to ElectroChem's plant in Raynham, MA.

According to an article by Christina Lent in the Portland Tribune,an additional 53 employees who work in research and development, and sales and marketing, will remain at the Beaverton offices "until a new site is identified and the lease expires in late 2016." 

Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle expressed disappointment on hearing the news. "I am deeply saddened to learn about Greatbatch's decision to close their Beaverton operations," Doyle said. "This move affects 170 employees and their families. Our primary concern at this time is to work closely with Worksource Oregon and other partners to assist the employees in their transition over the next 18 months."

Lent reports that Randy Ealy, Beaverton's chief administrative officer, sent an email to members of the City Council outlining what that assistance might look like. "Medical device manufacturing is one of our clusters in our economic development team's target market efforts," Ealy wrote. "Beaverton has over 127 scientific and medical instrument manufacturing companies with over 1600 employees. In addition, we have 600 companies statewide in the bioscience arena with robust workforce programs in the region ... available to assist our affected employees to find new employment."

Stephen Levy is a contributor to Qmed and MPMN.