Tolochenaz, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Medtronic, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of cardiac stimulators, including pacemakers, is celebrating production of its three millionth device at its Tolochenaz plant. The research centre and manufacturing plant opened in 1996-97 and the first pacemakers made in Switzerland came out in May 1997. The company added a major global training centre in 2002 at the site. Medtronic’s devices also include neurostimulators.
Cardiostimulators include devices ranging from pacemakers to implantable defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization devices. The Tolochenaz plant is widely acknowledged to be one of the world’s most sophisticated medical technology centres, producing for example the world’s first MRI (medical resonance imaging)-compatible pacemaker.
Neurological devices produced in Tolochenaz are mainly used to treat pain, Parkinson’s disease, movement disorders, and urologic and intestinal disorders.
The Tolochenaz plant was originally expected to employ 120 people but it expanded rapidly and today more than 700 people work there. The manufacturing arm of the company has 300 employees who work in two shifts to produce some 2,000 devices a day for an annual total of more than 400,000.
Medtronic is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and in 2009 is celebrating its 60th birthday. The company had 2008 revenues of $13.5 billion and employs 38,000 people worldwide. In addition to the regional office in Switzerland, it has a regional office in Japan.
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News story, GenevaLunch, 19 June 2009.
Filed under: Health
Tags: cardiac, devices, heart, Medtronic, Minneapolis, neuro-stimulators, pacemakers, production, research, stimulators, Tolochenaz, training centre