More than 600 jobs are on the chopping block between Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX) and St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ).
Boston Scientific warned that 167 jobs may be cut from its Miami, Fla., facility between Sept. 20 and Oct. 7 this year, according to a filing with the Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification department of the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation on Friday.
The Natick, Mass.-based medical device giant, which ranked 10th on the MassDevice Big 100 list of the world’s largest medical device companies, has been on an austerity kick for the past two years since J. Raymond Elliott took over as CEO for James Tobin in the summer of 2009. The company announced in early 2010 that it would be cutting 1,300 jobs as part of a global restructuring plan, to "further rationalize and refocus its business portfolio."
In March rumors spread that cuts were in store for jobs in BSX’s cardiology, rhythm and vascular unit, its biggest business sector. In June the company shed 160 jobs in its Arden Hills, Minn. pacemaker and implantable cardiac defibrillator manufacturing facility, and earlier this month BSX announced that it would hire 250 new employees for its manufacturing operation in Latin America.
The decision to cut jobs "was made as part of our previously announced strategy to reduce complexity and improve efficiencies across our global manufacturing network," company spokesman Erik Kopp told the South Florida Business Journal. "We deeply regret the impact this decision will have on our Miami employees, and have a plan in place that will provide severance pay, outplacement services and other resources for eligible employees to assist in the transition."
St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE:STJ) announced in its Q2 earnings report, in which it posted shrinking profits and flat CRM sales, that it plans to shutter a Swedish manufacturing facility for CRM products in favor of more affordable locations in Puerto Rico and Malaysia, which means cutting about 450 jobs. St. Jude ranked 15th on the MassDevice Big 100.
