Environmental Scan 2017 | Page 84

Environmental Scan 2017: Human Capital Issues within the Medical Devices Sector Table 2-5: Medical Devices Projects Approved by MIDA, 2013-2017 Year No. of Projects Approved Total Investment (RM billion) Domestic Investment (RM billion) Foreign Investment (RM billion) Potential Employment 2013 42 4.9 3.4 1.5 18,668 2014 42 2.2 1.2 1.0 7,300 2015 30 1.8 0.6 1.2 7,872 2016 41 2.9 1.3 1.6 7,386 2017 25 2.2 0.6 1.6 2,931 Source: MIDA Some examples of recent new investment or expansion in the industry: i) Paramit opened a new 162,000 square feet facility in Penang in January 2017. This new site would be the region’s largest manufacturing facility for complex medical devices and life science instruments, e.g systems for genetic and molecular testing, robotic surgery, cancer treatment. The Penang facility is designed from the ground up to match the state- of-the-art technology and systems employed at the company's headquarters in California, which integrates worry-free development and proprietary manufacturing processes. Paramit also plans to harmonize design, engineering and manufacturing to create a "transferless" process from concept to manufacturing. The Paramit facility is located at Penang Science Park in Bukit Minyak, and is expected to employ close to 800 employees. ii) In September 2017, Boston Scientific Corp has commenced operation at its new manufacturing plant in Batu Kawan Industrial Park, Penang. This is the 19th global manufacturing facility for the medical device giant, and its first in Asia. Boston Scientific’s new manufacturing plant spans 375,000 square feet over a 20-acre parcel. The facility will begin producing two of the company’s medical products that are used in cardiovascular and endoscopy procedures in 2018 before expanding its production to include the urology product families next year. Boston Scientific has more than 13,000 products in its global portfolio. Boston Scientific has plans to add as many as 400 new local jobs at the facility over the next 2 years. iii) Fresenius Medical Care, which manufactures products and provides services for individuals with renal diseases, expanded its regional manufacturing plant in Bandar Enstek, Negeri Sembilan in September 2017. The plant is a state-of-the-art facility and will be Fresenius Medical Care's regional manufacturing hub for Southeast Asia. In addition to supplying high-quality haemodialysis concentrates and disinfectants, the plant produces Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) products necessary for advanced Continuous Ambulatory PD (CAPD) treatment. 84