Dayton-area medical tech company to begin hiring for new location

Medical device maker will have 300 workers in West Carrollton


If you go

What: Job fair with area employers, including NuVasive Inc.

When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 23

Where: West Carrollton YMCA, 900 S. Alex Road.

A medical technology company building out the former Motoman robotics plant for a new advanced manufacturing operation will begin hiring for high-paying positions this month, the company said.

NuVasive Inc. is on track with its $45 million investment into the 160,000-square-foot plant at 805 Liberty Lane, clearly visible to motorists passing on Interstate 75. The company will host at least two area jobs fairs in coming weeks.

In December, the San Diego, Calif.-based company first announced its intention to produce spinal implant products in West Carrollton, moving 100 employees from a current Fairborn operation and eventually employing about 300 workers altogether at the new site.

“We’re on track to initiate production in August of this year,” said Stephen Rozow, vice president of NuVasive’s global operations. “From my perspective, we’re on schedule, if not slightly ahead of schedule.”

Production will ramp up through the middle of 2017, Rozow said.

The company will make spinal implantables, with components meant to go within the human body. There will also be fixation instrumentation, plating, screws and rods meant to stabilize the spine. The plant will also make select instrumentation.

Americans are getting older — and in some cases heavier — which is fueling demand for these kinds of products in the $9 billion global spine market, the company says. Every day, about 11,000 new seniors become eligible for Medicare coverage.

“Historically, spine surgery is something you would never want to wish on anyone,” said Michael Farrington, a NuVasive spokesman. “It sounds invasive … but you could be in and out in 24 hours, back walking the same the next day with our technology.”

“Our goal is to be less invasive,” he added.

If all of this sounds like precise manufacturing in a very controlled environment, that’s because it is.

“It’s very clean, very orderly, it’s a very controlled environment,” Rozow said. Some operations, such as assembly and packaging, will happen in clean-room environments. Other operations, such as machining, de-burring or finishing, will be performed in more ambient, but still controlled, atmospheres.

So far, the company has hired about 25 new employees, said Ruben Perez, NuVasive senior director of manufacturing. By the end of the calendar year, he expects to hire another 40.

The company is looking for engineers, managers, machinists and quality control professionals, among other positions. Eventually, another 200 new employees will be hired, with the 100 Fairborn employees moving to West Carrollton.

Perez said the company is finding “really good talent.” But he needs highly qualified employees, he noted.

“We’re looking at highly skilled talent,” Perez said. “That’s never an easy task anywhere in the country. But we’re very optimistic.”

A job fair (with other employers) is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 23 at the West Carrollton YMCA, 900 S. Alex Road. Another will be held in early August at the plant, company officers said.

Those interested in applying to NuVasive should visit the company's local jobs site at www.nuvasive.com/ohiojobs/

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