Although the city is home to many advanced industrial activities, medical device manufacturing in Tijuana stands out as a job creator.

Many are unaware that medical device manufacturing in Tijuana is as common of an activity as it is in well-known, major US device manufacturing hubs such as the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the metropolitan Boston area and upstate New York. Surprisingly, employment figures in the industry from 2010 show that medical device manufacturing in Tijuana accounted for more jobs in the US-Mexico border community than in the other aforementioned cities and region:

  • City of Tijuana 30,000+
  • Minneapolis-St. Paul 22,000+
  • New York State 19,000+
  • Boston Metro Area 15,000+

Steady, sustained growth over time

In 2012, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that increased medical device manufacturing in Tijuana had precipitated the doubling of manufacturing jobs in the sector over the prior six year period. According to that news source, device manufacturing employment had increased from “15,000 to nearly 31,000, according to state and industry figures.” The Union-Tribune also went on to explain that the growth in medical device manufacturing in Tijuana had spilled over, during the period under examination, to create further industry employment throughout the neighboring Mexican State of Baja California: “Across Baja California, more than 42,000 people are employed in the sector, accounting for more than half the medical-device industry jobs in Mexico.”

The expansion of medical device manufacturing in Tijuana, in terms of activity and employment, has continued to progress at a steady pace up until the present. More recently, in 2014, major companies such as Greatbatch, a manufacturer of electronic components that are incorporated into medical electronic devices; Surgical Specialties, a producer of dental and surgical supplies; CareFusion Corporation, a Becton Dickinson company and a producer of risk and error mitigating medical devices; and Phase 2 Medical Manufacturing, a medical device subcontract manufacturer announced that they would each begin their medical device manufacturing in Tijuana during the 2015 calendar year. This added activity in the Baja California medical device production sector may help to propel Mexico beyond its current ranking as the world’s sixth largest exporter of medical products.

Medical device manufacturing in Tijuana, and in the entirety of the State of Baja California, is thriving, and will continue to do so, because of the infrastructure that has been put into place to nurture the success of companies that are involved in such activities. In Tijuana and Baja California, medical device manufacturers considering the relocation of facilities to a cost-effective manufacturing environment can be certain that they will find:

  • many companies currently involved in FDA Class I, II and III medical device manufacturing;
  • clean rooms that extend from Class 100 to Class 100,000;
    low transportation costs to market;
  • governmental support on both the local and state level for medical device manufacturing in Tijuana and Baja California that includes both state and local tax and economic incentives;
  • a labor force that has over forty years meeting the rigorous quality demands of the medical device industry and the consumers for whom it provides products.

Interested parties are invited to scroll down to contact the Tecma Group of professionals about starting up operations that involve medical device manufacturing in Tijuana in Tijuana, or in other areas in the State of Baja California.