Edwards Lifesciences Corporation a global leader in patient-focused innovations for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring, today announced it is investing $100 million for its expansion plans in Costa Rica.

The company, headquartered in California, United States, develops and manufactures heart valves that are utilized in the treatment of patients with heart diseases all over the world. The company has been operating in Cartago’s Free Zone La Lima since 2016, and now has more than 200 employees in the country. Up to date, from Cartago, the company supports the manufacturing process of heart valves that is carried out in other Edwards Lifesciences facilities located in the United States and other nations.

The expansion underway in Costa Rica, considers the construction of a new manufacturing plant, and is part of Edwards’ global plans for its heart valve operations that initiated last year. The new plant is expected to enable the manufacturing of heart valve devices, from start to finish, in other words, they will be totally manufactured in Costa Rica and thereafter exported and used in medical centers around the world.

“Since we established operations in Costa Rica last year, we have appreciation for the excellent business and political environment to help develop our operations. This good experience, along with the excellent workforce we found, has supported our decision to proceed with our plans to build a modern, state-of-the-art heart valve manufacturing facility in Costa Rica to support our long-term growth aspirations,” said Michael Mussallem, Chairman and CEO of Edwards Lifesciences worldwide.

In order to progress with the expansion plans, ground movements have recently begun on a new site that will have approximately 20,000mts2, and is expected to be fully operating in 2020. The current production plant will continue to run parallel to the new one, as part of a strategy to smoothly build long-term capabilities.

The Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora, said: “The medical technology sector represents one of the main driving forces of the Costa Rican economy. More and more medical technology companies are carrying out research and development projects, as well as innovation initiatives in Costa Rica. The companies in this sector are one
of the main exporters. In this context, Edwards Lifesciences has been constantly growing in Costa Rica, taking advantage of the positive investment climate as well as the productive incentives in the free zone regime. With just one year of operating locally, they have found the conditions and talent they require for the manufacture of their products, characterized by high levels of complexity, sophistication and quality. We are pleased to know that the company will invest 100 million dollars in the expansion of its local operations. From our side, we will double our efforts to maintain the competitive conditions that allow the company to strengthen its roots and continue to grow with Costa Rica.”

The company plans to increase the number of employees by hiring more than 1,000 additional employees over the next several years. Mainly, vacancies will be opened for operators, supervisors, trainers and process engineers, quality control, logistics, finance, engineers in facilities and maintenance, among others. These workers will be responsible for the site’s operation.

According to CINDE, Costa Rica has emerged as a leading global destination for investment in Medical Technology, currently attracting more than 70 companies of this type to the country. The good positioning of Costa Rica in this industry has even allowed that 6 of the 10 most important companies in the cardiovascular sector in the world, have chosen Costa Rica to install their manufacturing plants. CINDE estimates that medical technology, the country’s main industrial good export, will reach US$3,000 million by end-2017.

Those interested in applying to a job vacancy within Edwards Lifesciences in Costa Rica can do so by sending their Curriculum Vitae to the following e-mail address: [email protected] Recruitment for new positions is expected to commence in mid-2018.