Switzerland-based Straumann is one of many companies rushing to cash in on the lucrative U.S. medical device market. The firm, which specializes in implant dentistry and oral tissue regeneration, opened its combined North American headquarters, training and production center in Andover, Mass., in June.

The company chose the Boston area because of its thriving medical technology sector.

“Andover offers us access to an important pool of scientific and skilled labor talent in the Boston area and … places us in a cluster of other leading companies in the medical device business,” said Russell Olsen, executive vice president, North America and president of Straumann USA.

The 161,000 square foot facility includes a 35,000 square foot training center with television links, a simulation laboratory, dental lab facilities and a lecture auditorium.

Andover is also home to the company’s first manufacturing unit outside of Switzerland. The plant produces high-precision implants and components for tooth replacement.

Straumann intends to double its North American work force within five years to 500 employees, with about 300 of those based in Andover.

“The U.S. market offers Straumann a tremendous opportunity and we are investing in people and infrastructure to get even closer to our U.S. customers and to take maximum advantage of our rising position in the market,” said Gilbert Achermann, CEO of Straumann. “The buildup of production here will also reduce our currency exposure by shifting part of our cost base closer to where we generate revenues.”

Also in the area, Boston Scientific Corp. is in the final stages of construction on a new headquarters for its Endosurgery Group. The company is renovating 500,000 square feet of space in three buildings in Marlborough, Mass. The site is only 15 miles west of its corporate headquarters in Natick.

“It’s to save time, improve productivity and creativity and to leverage the facility to maximize the production of new product ideas,” Steve Moreci, senior vice president and president of endosurgery, told the MetroWest Daily News.

Boston Scientific purchased the facility for $43 million. The renovation project is estimated to cost about the same.

In Massachusetts, key support factors are in place to help the industry thrive, said Tom Sommer, president of MassMEDIC, a state trade and advocacy organization.

Massachusetts has numerous teaching hospitals and several research institutions with household names — including MIT, Harvard, Boston University and Tufts University — that are spinning out new technology and skilled professionals.

“You combine access to technology and work force with the availability of capital and we are a hub,” Sommer said. “It’s money, it’s smart people, it’s new technology converging in this region. We’re seeing expansions adding a number of companies and new workers to the payroll.”

Nova Biomedical is benefiting from business synergies in the Boston metro. The company’s state-of-the-art, 52,000 square foot Bedford facility is in its second year creating consumer diabetic product lines.

“We’re pleased with our growth and especially the business climate in New England for medical devices,” said Jeff DuBois, vice president of business development for Nova Biomedical.

DuBois cited some of the nation’s leading hospitals and a core of top scientists and engineers as catalysts for growth.

“New England is really a pretty close community of education, industries and [trade and advocacy] agencies … and the financial community as well,” he said. “You need all four of those elements for a cohesive, thriving climate and they’re all resident here.”

Baby Boomer Generation Helps Growing Industry

Investor’s Business Daily reports that “the universe has aligned” to give medical device manufacturers the conditions they need to innovate, succeed and expand. Nearly 80 million American baby boomers are demanding an increasing quality of life as they age. Device manufacturers such as Stryker Corp. are more than happy to give it to them.

The company began employing golfer Jack Nicklaus as its spokesman after his successful 1999 hip replacement used Stryker products.

The firm is in the process of moving the California-based communications operation of its endoscopy division to Flower Mound, Texas, in the Dallas metro. The move accomplishes the objectives of expanding an existing Texas office and providing a lower cost of living for relocating employees, said Pat Anderson, vice president of strategy and communications for the company.

The group is being combined with a marketing team from Stryker’s Surgical Navigation operation that was already working in the Dallas metro. As the office, manufacturing and distribution functions expand, the number of jobs could eventually reach 300.

Also in the Dallas metro, Advanced Neuromodulation Systems has expanded to make room for its growing work force. The company, which develops implantable systems to alleviate chronic pain, built a 150,000 square foot corporate headquarters in Plano last year. Its work force has grown fivefold since 1998 and stands at about 500.

Brooke Haneborg, manager of marketing and communications, said the company’s location is an asset because of its proximity to DFW International Airport and the state’s favorable tax climate.

“Dallas is a high-tech city and is continuing to grow,” she said. “There is a lot of growth and opportunity here.”

In the Minneapolis area, Medtronic has added more than 2,000 jobs in the past five years and opened a new world headquarters in 2001. The company plans to break ground on an 820,000 square foot headquarters for its Cardiac Rhythm Management division in 2007.

Medtronic offers products, therapies and services that treat conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, neurological disorders and vascular illnesses.

The company plans to add about 2,000 employees during the next seven years, said Rich Fischer, manager of corporate public relations for Medtronic.

“It doesn’t look like we’re slowing down anytime soon,” he said.

Up to 50,000 employees work in the medical device manufacturing industry, according to Don Gerhardt, president and CEO of Medical Alley/MNBIO, a regional trade association based in St. Louis Park, Minn. The organization expects 15,000 jobs to be added in the state’s five largest medical device companies within the next seven years.

Gerhardt said the proximity of clinical researchers, regulatory experts, engineers and workers with production floor experience are critical for a thriving medical device industry.

“The manufacturing side of it is not always looking at … tax breaks,” he said.

Solid community college and technical school programs provide key skills for production workers in the state, while the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic provide high-tech expertise. A growing population of immigrants is also being employed in production.

“In the main, just about everything we see is growing or waiting on an FDA approval that will allow them to grow very quickly,” Gerhardt said. “It’s really on the move.”