Kettering micromedical device maker primed to keep growing
Resonetics’ Kettering location has added more jobs and space in the Miami Valley Research Park, with land for even more growth.
The medical device making business specializing in small laser products houses about 200 jobs at its 2941 College Drive location, adding about “20 to 30 positions a year over the last couple years,” said Zack Etzler, Kettering operations director.
Two years ago, the Kettering site of the Nashua, N.H.-based business nearly doubled and currently occupies a facility of about 40,000 square feet on what is now 7.7 acres, “giving us more space to continue that growth,” Etzler said.
“A lot of these products are what we call micromedical,” he said. “So, some of them are around the size of grains of salt, or they can be as thin as a human hair, but six feet long. So, everything we do here is very, very small scale. Everything’s under a microscope that we manufacture here.
“We are a contract manufacturer, and we sell these products to … some of the big medical companies, and some of the newer startup medical companies that are out there,” Etzler added. “And a lot of the areas that we focus in are what’s called interventional.”
Those devices are used in catheter-based treatments for heart disorders, he said.
While many of the products are heart-related, “the vast majority” are vascular devices used for aneurysm treatment in many parts of the body, including the brain, according to Etzler.
“We also have some products that are used for glaucoma treatment,” he added. “So, there’s a good chunk of our business that the products end up in some sort of glaucoma procedure.”
The Kettering site is one of 17 Resonetics’ facilities in the U.S., Canada, Costa Rica, Israel and Switzerland, the company’s website states.
Each location is focused on specific manufacturing or product development in the medical technology — or medtech — industry.
The U.S. is the largest medical device market in the world, comprising more than 40% of the global medtech market, according to the Advanced Medical Technology Association.
Healthcare-related jobs are projected to be a leader in employment growth among occupational groups from 2020 to 2030, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Healthcare support jobs are the top category, forecast to increase about 23% during that time, according to the bureau.
Second are personal care and service positions (about 22%) while healthcare practitioners and technical jobs are sixth (about 10%), federal statistics show.
Resonetics has room for more jobs with its 2022 building expansion, Etzler said, noting that “we still have about two years of growth within our current facility.”
But the company recently put itself in position for further expansion by gaining the city’s approval to consolidate a 1.61-acre lot with what was a 6.1-acre parcel.
“We did acquire additional land space so that way we would have that capability,” Etzler said.