E-Z-EM cuts back

Lake Success, NY-based E-Z-EM plans to close its device manufacturing facility in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, as well as its heat-sealing operation in Westbury, NY. Both facilities involve interventional devices. The company does not plan to reduce operations at manufacturing plants involving imaging devices, according to Thomas Johnson, director of marketing services, but rather ones used for interventions. The company will outsource the affected operations to third-party manufacturers. The realignment is part of the company's global production strategy, which is intended to create a market-driven manufacturing infrastructure. E-Z-EM expects the project to be complete by early next year and to generate annual savings of more than $2 million.