Jabil Inc. is highlighting a medical focus for its Nypro injection molding unit by renaming it and combining it with its other medical businesses, while also investing $18.5 million to expand a plant in Asheville, N.C.
Nypro — No. 7 in the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American injection molders — will be merged with other Jabil businesses into Jabil Healthcare and make medical instruments for orthopedics, spine, trauma and similar markets, officials with St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Jabil said in a Feb. 3 news release.
The combined unit will be led by Steve Borges and will employ 20,000 at 35 global sites.
In a Feb. 5 phone interview, Borges said that when Jabil acquired Nypro in 2013, "the premise was to provide holistic service to customers."
At that time, he said, Jabil already had a core health care business that included assembly work. After the acquisition, Nypro customers could have that work done at Jabil instead of with outside firms.
"Nypro customers took advantage of our electronics and assembly work," said Borges, a 27-year Jabil veteran. "The businesses already are integrated at some sites.
"It was time to bring it all together as Jabil Healthcare. The goal is always to get the product to the patient with the right quality."
Megatrends in health care about the needs of an aging population and increased use of at-home products have continued, according to Borges.
"More people want to control their health care, and there's been an increase in digital services," he said. "There's great diversity in our health care business. We can bring more value both to the patient and the OEM.
"Our business can have a major effect on wellness around the world and help more and more patients," Borges added. "We're in a good place."
Jabil Healthcare serves five sectors in the health care market: medical devices, orthopedics, diagnostics, pharmaceutical delivery systems and consumer health. Officials said that in each of those sectors, demand for value-based care solutions "is forcing significant changes in the evolution of health care products and services and driving digital health innovations."
"By harnessing the power of the Jabil and Nypro teams, we are in the unique position to accelerate technology advancements and augment the value we bring to our customers, their patients and the health care industry," Borges said. "With the rise of digital health and additive manufacturing, the time is right to unite our diverse capabilities and domain expertise under one strong brand."
