Matt Jordan, vice president of operations at Providien’s subcontract operations lends his insights on medical device manufacturing in Tijuana to Tecma Talk podcast listeners.

Tecma Group of Companies

Hello and welcome to another installment of Tecma Talk Podcasts. Individuals that have frequented our website, and listened to our material before, know that what these recordings are composed of are conversations with experts that are both internal and external to the Tecma Group of Companies on subjects that have to do with manufacturing in Mexico and related topics. Today we are going to concentrate on medical device manufacturing in Tijuana. We have a very seasoned manufacturing executive that represents a company called Providien that is located in Tijuana, and doing business there. His name is Matt Jordan. I will ask him to tell the folks that are listening to this recording a little bit about the company, and about himself. Matt, how are you today?

Matt Jordan:

Good. Thanks for having me on.

Tecma Group of Companies:

Matt, please tell us a little bit about Providien and yourself.

Matt Jordan:

Sure. Providien is a medical device manufacturing company that makes devices in three primary categories: (1) metals; (2) plastics and (3) finished goods contract manufacturing. Finished goods contract manufacturing is the lion’s share of the business. That is what I am responsible for, and that is done all south of the border here in Tijuana, Mexico. We occupy five buildings and have just over one thousand employees. We have three different manufacturing offerings. We do outsourced production lines, production work cells and we do have two focused factories, which are manufacturing products that are dedicated to only one customer.

Providien does about $90 million in sales annually  and has a total of 1400 hundred employees. We’ve got some ancillary locations in Southern California. For me, my background is split 50/50 in terms of the OEM and the contract manufacturing. I started my career with Medtronic, beginning my work at their ear, nose and throat division which had just won the Shingo Prize for lean manufacturing excellence. I spent a few years on an ex-pat assignment implementing “best practices” for manufacturing across eight facilities in Europe in France, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and the Netherlands. I came back to the United States and finished up with Medtronic working for surgical navigation and cardiovascular.

After that, I moved into the contract manufacturing side and joined a company called ATEK medical, which has since been acquired by another company. I took an ex-pat assignment with them to start medical device manufacturing operations in Costa Rica. We put signs on the doors, turned the lights on and when I left, we had very large manufacturing work cells in place for catheters, perfusion tubing set cannula and tourniquet cuffs. Subsequent to that, I moved into business development. It was important to me to understand how to drive top line growth, and pricing and the financials behind the operation. I was very successful in that area, and was awarded and transferred over US $30 million worth of business. About two years ago, I joined Providien. I’m the vice president of operations and, again, operating the finished good contract manufacturing side of the business, which is south of the border.

Tecma Group of Companies:

It is clear that you have a diverse background in both geographical and in terms of functions within the industry. Let’s function on the geographic aspect of your experience. You have been in Europe. You’ve been in Central America. Given this, from your perspective, why is medical device manufacturing in Tijuana a choice that should be considered by people that are making decisions for their companies from a strategic perspective?

Matt Jordan:

Sure. Firstly, I want to say that I love the environment and the people down here in Tijuana. It is[...]