A rendering of one of two new manufacturing buildings underway at Viant Costa Rica [Image courtesy of Viant]
This is the second consecutive year that Foxborough, Massachusetts–based Viant has kicked off an expansion in Heredia. The new project will create a 43% larger footprint, for a total of more than 250,000 square feet. The number of buildings on the site will grow from four to seven.
The expansion will primarily support complex interventional and other minimally invasive devices.
Viant officials expect new manufacturing and warehouse buildings to be in use by late November 2022. An additional manufacturing building will open in March 2023. They project that revenue from the Heredia site will double by 2024.
“Outsourcing allows medical device manufacturers to focus on the innovation that’s core to their business while partnering with companies like Viant that specialize in manufacturing,” Viant CEO Alton Shader said in a news release. “In addition to our major facility investment, we offer deep engineering expertise, great talent, built-in speed, and the agility to make decisions quickly to support our customers’ business.”
Located in a free-trade zone, Viant’s Costa Rica location specializes in thermoplastic and elastomeric molding, extrusion and complex assembly for interventional, surgical and other medical devices and components.
Medtech expansion in Costa Rica continues
A host of medical device companies have based manufacturing in Costa Rica since the 1990s. As a result, contract manufacturers and other suppliers who support them have followed suit. Medtech companies are attracted to the Central American country by its political and economic stability, educated workforce and proximity to the United States.
Meanwhile, the Costa Rican government has actively worked to attract and keep medtech companies. It offers tax incentives for foreign manufacturers under the Free Trade Zone Regime. The program exempts companies from a high percentage of income taxes, export and import duties, municipal and value-added taxes, depending on the size of their investment in the country.
