Cook Medical announced today that it will lay off 500 workers — about 4% of its global workforce.
In a message to employees posted on the Bloomington, Indiana–based medtech company’s website, Cook Medical President Pete Yonkman described the layoffs as the “most difficult decision we have had to make in support of our strategy.”
“The last several years have brought significant change to our customers, our supply chain, and the way we work,” Yonkman said. “To ensure that we are positioned to be successful in this new world, our global leadership teams have implemented a new five-year vision and strategic plan that were informed by extensive feedback from our customers, employees, and leadership teams.”
Impacted employees inside the U.S. will receive an email between 8 and 9 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow. Yonkman said senior leadership outside the U.S. would make sure employees would be notified as quickly as possible, too.
The company said the layoffs will not affect manufacturing assemblers or hourly employees in distribution centers. The Herald-Times in Bloomington said 123 of the jobs being eliminated are in Indiana.
With $2.3 billion in annual revenue, Cook Medical is the 48th largest medical device company in the world, according to MassDevice and Medical Design & Outsourcing‘s Big 100 report on largest medtech companies. The privately-held company — part of the Cook Group — sells a wide range of minimally invasive medical devices.
The latest in a string of medtech companies announcing layoffs
MassDevice has reported on more than 18,000 medtech workers let go across the industry since mid-2022. Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company, began laying off workers in earnest last month.
Medtech firms and other U.S. businesses have sought to lower expenses. Factors such as inflation, increased interest rates, supply chain complications, and more have made it more expensive to run a company.
In addition, medtech companies specifically have had to manage operational difficulties experienced by their healthcare provider clients.
A Cook Medical spokesperson, however, told MassDevice that the layoff was not a response to market conditions, but rather a strategic realignment to address the company’s five-year plan.
