Microspec’s Expansion Hampered by Workforce Shortage

Microspec Corporation in Peterborough, which produces custom medical tubing for medical-device companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronics and Stryker, is expanding, but the problem, says CEO Tim Steele, is finding the space and people to support its growth.

Since the pandemic, he says the company has been growing more than 20% annually. Microspec employs just over 100 people and last year added manufacturing space to the second floor of its facility.

Steele says he would like to hire at least 10 people right away, and despite the recent expansion, booming business has already caused a space crunch. “We probably have breathing space for one more year and then we’re going to have to do something,” Steele says, adding that Microspec is proposing to build a 30,000-square-foot facility on a 13-acre parcel on Jaffrey Road near the current facility.

“One of the factors holding that project back, other than money and the high cost of construction today, is that it doesn’t solve the labor shortage,” says Steele, who has raised wages by almost 19% over the past 18 months. “We’re understaffed for manufacturing positions. We could hire 10 people immediately and still need more.”

Microspec produces well over two million peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) and other types of catheters related to vascular procedures each year. Steele says he expects business to continue to grow, and that he would like to see the expansion happen sooner than later. Currently, Microspec is working with an international company to produce the extruded tubing needed for an interventional procedure, still in clinical trials, to treat type 2 diabetes.   Steele is hopeful the product will take off. “When that happens, we’re going to need a manufacturing team of 20 people, and those are 20 new jobs for local people,” he says.

Steele is looking into creating more affordable housing to attract more workers. Last year, Steele and his wife, Elizabeth, who serves as vice president of the company, presented a plan to the Peterborough Planning Board to build units of workforce housing on land purchased last June behind the new facility.

The couple have been scoping out options for a new facility in tax free zones such as Costa Rica and Salt Lake City. “We’re trying to keep our options open,” he says. “Before the end of the year, we’ll know exactly where we’re going.”

For more information, visit microspecorporation.com.