By The Star Staff
The Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC by its acronym in Spanish) has said it will provide help to some 230 workers who will be left jobless in Juncos in 2027 after the Becton Dickinson plant closes.
“The DDEC is fully committed to working closely with the company’s management, both locally and at the corporate level, to explore all possible alternatives to mitigate the impact of this decision on employees and the community,” designated DDEC Secretary Sebastián Negrón Reichard said.
The decision is part of a strategic plan that involves transferring production lines from the Juncos facility to a recently acquired site in Añasco, following Becton Dickinson’s (BD) purchase of Edwards Lifesciences. However, that process will depend on product inventories and the subsequent transfer of operations. As a result, a definitive schedule for layoffs has not yet been established, though they are expected to occur in staggered phases.
“Becton Dickinson has been a key partner for Puerto Rico, significantly contributing to the medical device sector and positively impacting the local economy,” Negrón Reichard added. “While we recognize that this business decision is driven by global dynamics, we will continue to engage in discussions at both the local and corporate levels to investigate options that may alleviate the effects on employees and the Juncos community.”
The secretary-designate emphasized that there will be no immediate layoffs and that DDEC has activated the rapid response services of Conexión Laboral to assist the 230 regular employees of the plant who may need support.
Juncos Mayor Alfredo “Papo” Alejandro said recently that he had been receiving calls alerting him to a possible shutdown of BD operations in the town. At the same time, the global medical technology firm announced additional investments in its U.S. manufacturing network.
BD operates more than 30 manufacturing and distribution facilities in the United States, which represent an important part of the backbone of the U.S. medical product supply chain. Those facilities employ more than 10,000 people and are spread across 17 states and Puerto Rico.
The New Jersey-based company announced it is moving its operations to the U.S. mainland and making investments to add capacity for critical medical devices, including syringes, needles and IV catheters, to meet the ongoing needs of the nation’s health care system. As part of the company’s 2024 investment of more than $10 million to expand manufacturing capacity, new needle and syringe production lines have been installed at BD plants in Connecticut and Nebraska. One line is already fully operational with additional lines expected to start up in the coming months, the company said in a statement last week.
The new lines will boost BD’s capacity of domestically manufactured safety-engineered injection devices by more than 40% and conventional syringes by more than 50%, adding hundreds of millions of units annually to support critical U.S. health care delivery in areas such as hospital procedures, vaccinations, medication preparation and drug delivery to patients. In addition, BD has hired more than 215 full-time employees at its facilities in Nebraska and Connecticut to support the increased production.
BD also has plans for more than $30 million in investments in 2025 to expand manufacturing capacity for IV lines at its plant in Utah to support continued growth in catheter solutions. This follows the company’s 2024 investment of more than $2 million for IV line improvements that resulted in increased IV catheter output by more than 40 million units annually.
“Domestic manufacturing is crucial for ensuring a resilient supply of essential health care devices,” said Eric Borin, president of medication delivery solutions at BD. “By expanding our production capacity, we are not only meeting the critical needs of patients and providers, but we also are reinforcing our commitment to the nation’s health care infrastructure.”
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