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Arthrex, the giant orthopedic medical device company based in Collier County, clearly loves Southwest Florida.
The company is based in north Naples and operates a manufacturing facility in Ave Maria. It's also moving ahead with a large expansion of its headquarters, where plans include an office tower and a vision for a walkable, high-tech style corporate campus. That project, expected to break ground early next year, includes a commitment to create more than 560 jobs in exchange some $5 million in state and local incentives.
But Arthrex's love for Naples isn't boundless.
The company, with other offices in California and overseas, recently announced it intends to build a 200,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sandy Springs, S.C. According to a press release, the company will make a $69 million capital investment in the South Carolina facility, and is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs over the next several years. The expansion includes a potential jobs-performance based incentive package from South Carolina worth nearly $13 million.
While Arthrex spokeswoman Lisa Gardiner says Arthrex is “very committed” to Naples and Florida, one reason it was important to go outside the Sunshine State for its next manufacturing facility was risk management.
Company officials looked at 600 sites nationwide before reaching a deal in South Carolina. “We eventually landed on Anderson County, South Carolina, for a couple different reasons, but primarily because that area has done an excellent job establishing manufacturing training programs that will fulfill our needs,” Gardiner tells Coffee Talk.
The South Carolina facility, Gardiner adds, will mirror the company's Ave Maria facility in operations and the types of items it's producing. The plant will not impact any employees or operations in Naples.
Entrepreneur Reinhold Schmieding founded Arthrex in 1991 and the company has since grown into a medical device powerhouse, creating about 10,000 products for orthopedic surgeons. The company had $2 billion in revenue in 2016.
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