ICU Medical Inc., a San Clemente, Calif.-based injection molder of thermoplastics and silicone, will close its San Clemente manufacturing facility and move its presses to a newly acquired Salt Lake City facility, said Chief Financial Officer Francis O'Brien. Corporate offices will remain in San Clemente.
ICU bought the 450,000-square-foot Salt Lake City site May 1 from Hospira Inc. for $32 million, including equipment and inventory. ICU also has a 20-year agreement to continue making the products Hospira had made at the plant.
The Salt Lake City facility already has about 40 injection presses, which will be supplemented by 42 machines coming from San Clemente. The equipment will be moved during the next 12 months.
``It will be done gradually. We'll be moving one module at a time,'' O'Brien said in a July 29 telephone interview.
Some assembly work will be moved from Salt Lake City to an ICU facility in Ensenada, Mexico. ICU will cut the workforce in Salt Lake City because it already is overstaffed, O'Brien said.
Including the workers at the San Clemente manufacturing facility, about 100 jobs will be cut. O'Brien said ICU is trying to sell the 50,000-square-foot San Clemente site, which could save some jobs, but he did not say if ICU has received any offers.
Maintaining production at Salt Lake City was not ICU's original plan, according to a company news release. But after an assessment of relocation and operation costs, officials decided the comparisons preferred Salt Lake City.
O'Brien did not say how many workers will be employed at the Salt Lake City plant when all the machines are moved. He also did not say how much the move would cost.
ICU owns six facilities, in Italy, Mexico and the United States. O'Brien projects 2005 sales of $140 million.
