A medical supply company operating in Costa Rica yesterday announced a $35 million expansion of its operations here.

The expansion will take place over the next three years, and by 2011 the company – Boston Scientific Corporation – expects to have doubled the size of its Costa Rican work force to 2,400.

The company opened its first production plant in Costa Rica in 2004 with an investment of $11 million. The plant, located in the Global Park free zone industrial park in Heredia, north of San José, employs 1,200 people.

The company manufactures surgical forceps and all of its “snares” (tiny loops used to nip off polyps during minimally invasive surgical procedures) in the Costa Rica plant. Annually, Boston Scientific is responsible for about $50 million of exports from Costa Rica.

The expansion of Boston Scientific Costa Rica will take place in the new Coyol industrial park in Alajuela, northwest of San José.

By the time it opens, Costa Rica will be Boston Scientific's only manufacturer of snares and biopsy forceps, meaning 80% of those products in the world will come from the Costa Rican plants, according to a press release.

Boston Scientific Corporation is one of the largest medical supply companies in the world, with $8 billion in annual sales, 37 manufacturing centers and 29,000 employees.

The company is the second to announce a large investment in the Coyol industrial park. Last month, German car parts manufacturer Continental AG announced it would be investing $60 million in a factory located there.

-Tico Times