Haemonetics ($HAE) will shutter a plant in Braintree, MA, and eliminate 320 jobs the facility supported over the next 18 months. But it will expand operations in Mexico and Asia.
It turns out the cuts amount, in part, to a very familiar word that companies use in reference to M&A transactions: "redundancies." Haemonetics, a maker of blood management devices and technology, told Mass High Tech that the plant closure became necessary in the wake of its $555 million acquisition last year of Pall Corp.'s blood collection, filtration and processing systems, along with related equipment.
"We picked up new manufacturing plants and spent one year combining those two businesses. In doing so, it became apparent that we had some redundancies and overlap," Haemonetics Vice President of Investor Relations Gerry Gould is quoted in the article as saying. "We needed to change our manufacturing imprint."
On the other hand, Haemonetics will grow other parts of its manufacturing operations outside of the U.S. As Mass High Tech reports, the company will expand its facility in Tijuana, Mexico, and is looking to build a manufacturing operation in Asia. Gould told the newspaper that Haemonetics is still planning the details.
Softening the blow to Massachusetts, Gould told Mass High Tech that Haemonetics will keep its headquarters in Braintree and build a "center for excellence and research" in Massachusetts that will employ 100-plus people.
Meanwhile, Haemonetics has completed its acquisition of Hemerus Medical, which develops blood processing and storage technology.
- read the MHT story