Boston Scientific job cut ax strikes Minnesota

Six weeks after Boston Scientific ($BSX) acknowledged it would be cutting more jobs, an initial ax has fallen in Minnesota's Twin Cities region. The Massachusetts-based medical device manufacturer confirmed it is doing away with an as-yet undisclosed number of positions there.

How many Boston Scientific positions will be eliminated in Minnesota remains an open question. Boston Scientific acknowledged to the Pioneer Press that it is pursuing the Twin Cities-area layoffs, but declined to say how many positions would be cut. (Spokesperson Steven Campanini told FierceMedicalDevices that the company isn't providing individual layoff numbers.)

The Pioneer Press reports that the job eliminations are part of a previously announced restructuring effort dating back to July 2011, when Boston Scientific said it would eliminate 1,400 jobs by the end of 2013 through both layoffs and attrition (but add 1,000 new jobs in China as it expands there). The company warned at the end of August that more job cuts were coming as a part of this effort.

About 5,000 people work at Boston Scientific operations in Arden Hills and Maple Grove, MN, according to the Pioneer Press story. Boston Scientific is slashing positions in the face of declining sales for its cardiac rhythm management and interventional cardiology business lines. But executives have been actively reorganizing and diversifying and are aiming for a turnaround within the next 12 to 18 months.

The company is far from alone among device companies pursuing layoffs. Many are eliminating a combined thousands of jobs this year as they seek to streamline in the face of slumping markets or adjust to new costs such as the impending 2.3% medical device excise tax in the U.S., which is slated to begin in January 2013.

- read the Pioneer Press story

Special Report: The 10 Largest Medical Device Layoffs of 2012