Following a record sales year, Arden Hills medical-products maker IntriCon Corp. is expanding its manufacturing footprint in Minnesota by about 30 percent as it ramps up work for other medical device companies.
IntriCon declined identify exactly which devices would be manufactured under contract in the new space. But company executives told investors that a 27 percent increase in sales in the fourth quarter was primarily driven by production of Medtronic's MiniMed wireless glucose monitoring systems.
"We are well-positioned with Medtronic for 2018, providing key system components, including the continuous glucose monitor sensor assembly and related accessories," CEO Mark Gorder told investors in an earnings call Feb. 12. "Overall, our medical demand for Medtronic, as well as other key medical customers, is strengthening."
In the past six months, IntriCon customers have invested or made commitments to invest in more than $3 million in capital equipment, prompting the manufacturing expansion, Gorder said.
On Tuesday IntriCon announced the signing of a five-year lease on 30,000 square feet of new manufacturing space at 1275 Gray Fox Road, Arden Hills, near the company's existing facility in the city. The expansion will allow IntriCon to create another 150 jobs during the first half of this year.
IntriCon makes body-worn medical gadgets including lower-cost hearing devices for the "value-based" hearing healthcare market. IntriCon's largest revenue source is manufacturing microelectronics, assemblies and plastic components and devices for "emerging and leading medical device manufacturers," securities filings say.
"The expansion of our medical business, which we expect will continue, warrants this type of investment to fuel the company's next wave of growth," Gorder said in a press release about the expansion.
The expansion will accommodate robotic assembly of medical components and systems, and an expansion of IntriCon's molding capacity.
IntriCon had net sales of $88 million in 2017, up 30 percent from the prior year, and diluted net income of 25 cents per share, which represented a positive reversal from the 71-cent per-share net loss that was posted in 2016.
