Updated Setp. 27: Less than three months after rebranding as Viant, MedPlast Inc. is closing its 85,000-square-foot facility in Monticello, Iowa, and laying off 70 employees after losing its largest customer.
The last shifts at the injection molder and contract manufacturer of single-use medical components and devices are scheduled for by Nov. 16, the company wrote in its notice to Iowa Workforce Development, which is required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
The privately held company issued a statement Sept. 26 about why it is shuttering the Iowa plant, which has automation cells and 41 injection presses ranging from 55-880 tons of clamping force and capabilities for over-, insert- and high-temperature molding.
“Our largest customer at that facility decided to move manufacturing. Without this business, we cannot maintain our operations in Monticello,” Marketing Director Kathryn Misra said in an email to Plastics News.
Other customers plan to keep their business local and transfer their products to other manufacturing plants in the area, Misra also said.
“We are making every effort to assist our 70 team members through this transition with severance packages, relocation to other Viant facilities, and career transition services,” Misra added.
With an estimated $310 million in annual sales, Viant ranks 28th among North American injection molders, according to Plastics News' latest ranking.
The company also offers thermoforming and blow molding to make surgical, diagnostic, orthopedic and animal health products as well as medical devices for wound management, infection prevention, oncology and respiratory uses. The products are manufactured mostly from thermoplastics, rubber, metal and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.
The business has undergone major changes since Baird Capital Partners sold it to the strategic investment firm Water Street Healthcare Partners and the private equity firm JLL Partners in December 2016. Two months later, the new owners acquired the device manufacturing business of Vention Medical, which served many of the same customers and had been based in South Plainfield, N.J.
Earlier this year, MedPlast completed the acquisition of Integer Holding Corp.'s advanced surgical and orthopedics business, which was expected to double sales to nearly $1 billion while expanding metal component capabilities and its global footprint into Europe.
In July, MedPlast announced that it would do business as Viant “to reflect the company's new strategic direction.” CEO Brian King said in the release the Integer acquisition enabled Viant to achieve its goal of being a full-service supplier.
The company also announced in July it was relocating the corporate headquarters from Tempe, Ariz., to Foxborough, Mass., to be in a major medical device hub near customers.
Earlier this year, MedPlast said it would close a 60,000-square-foot facility in New Berlin, N.J., where it had 44 presses and offered molding, assembly, decorating and packaging. Some of those operations and personnel were to be consolidated with an existing 46,000-square-foot plant in South Plainfield, which has clean rooms, a tooling center, and capabilities for molding, assembly, packaging, staples manufacturing, ultrasonic welding, and pouching.
According to the company's website, MedPlast currently has its headquarters plus 25 locations, including Monticello. The other sites are in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin as well China, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.
