Dive Brief:
- Medtronic expects up to 40 employees in Ireland may lose their jobs as a result of the company shutting down its ventilator business, a move announced ahead of its late February earnings call.
- Medtronic said in an emailed statement to MedTech Dive it is early in the process of notifying and consulting employees and does not have many details to share, adding it expects no more than 40 redundancies out of 4,000 Medtronic employees in Ireland.
- The medtech giant did not respond to a request for comment on when any job losses would occur. The company reaffirmed the Mervue site in Galway, Ireland, which currently manufactures ventilators, would continue to be an “important facility.”
Dive Insight:
The medical device industry has shed hundreds of jobs already in 2024, following layoffs throughout last year. Companies have cut jobs to decrease costs and trimmed product lines or businesses to focus their strategies.
Medtronic was the latest to announce a restructuring when the company said in late February it would exit the ventilator market, reversing a plan to spin off or sell its respiratory interventions and patient monitoring businesses. Now, Medtronic will shut down its ventilator product lines and combine the remaining respiratory and monitoring businesses into a new unit.
Medtronic previously confirmed with MedTech Dive it was prepared to transfer employees to other positions or offer them “comprehensive transitional support.” However, it did not provide further details about the number of employees that would be affected by either a transfer or job loss.
In a separate statement on Friday, Medtronic estimated there could be up to 40 redundancies.
“We do not have broad details on impacts to share at this time. With specific regard to the Mervue facility: We have just entered the consultation phase with employees and asked people to consider the options to move to other Medtronic sites or take a voluntary package so the exact number is not clear,” the company said in an emailed statement. “We expect no more than 40 redundancies and that is out of a total number of 4,000 employees across five sites in Medtronic in Ireland.”
The company did not say when any job losses may take effect. Ireland’s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said in an emailed statement that Medtronic filed a notification for potential redundancies on Feb. 20. The department declined to provide further information about the filing.
Medtronic said product lines at the Mervue site have diversified over the past four years, and it “will continue to look for new investment opportunities for this location.”