New production lines in two states
BD has installed needle and syringe production lines in Connecticut and Nebraska and hired more than 215 full-time employees to support increased output. Its 2024 capacity investment exceeded $10 million. In January 2025, one new line was fully operational, with additional lines expected to start in the following months. The facilities supply medical devices used in the United States.
BD expects the new lines to increase domestic capacity for safety-engineered injection devices by more than 40% and conventional syringes by more than 50%, adding hundreds of millions of units annually. The company also plans more than $30 million of investment in Utah during 2025 for IV-line capacity. Its 2024 IV-line improvements, costing more than $2 million, had increased annual catheter output by over 40 million units.
Earlier investment in Drogheda
BD's manufacturing network has also undergone changes in Ireland. On 8 December 2021, the company announced 100 new jobs at its Donore Road facility in Drogheda as part of a $70 million (€62 million) investment to upgrade equipment and expand production of PosiFlush pre-filled flush syringes. A new 30,000-square-foot facility had started production that September. Half of the 100 positions were filled at the announcement; the remaining recruitment was planned through 2022 and 2023.
The expansion covered several types of work:
- Engineering, production and machine operations.
- Logistics, management and administration.
Site director Liam Dillon said the plant employed more than 240 associates at that time. Production at Donore Road had begun in 1964. BD's investment there exceeded $150 million over the preceding five years. The expansion received government support through IDA Ireland; these figures describe the 2021 project rather than the workforce or spending position in January 2025.
A subsequent phased-closure plan
In July 2024, BD announced a different course for Drogheda: a phased wind-down over two and a half years, potentially affecting around 170 jobs. A spokesperson said the decision followed a review aimed at improving operational efficiency and resource allocation, with no effect on the company's other Irish facilities. The plant makes oncology, interventional-radiology and critical-care products. In 2023, BD had already planned 60 job cuts over 15 months, citing pandemic-related device demand and the separation of its diabetes-care operation.
The July 2024 closure plan envisaged an initial round affecting about 110 employees from March 2025, with the remaining redundancies extending to September 2026, according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ as cited in MedTech Dive's contemporary coverage. Those were prospective dates and job-loss estimates. CEO Tom Polen had separately identified waste reduction and production efficiency as contributors to financial performance. BD spent $101 million on integration and restructuring in its fiscal second quarter, after $75 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.
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