(PRESS RELEASE) SAN RAMON, CA — CooperVision, one of the world’s leading contact lens manufacturers, has announced a multi-year investment plan totaling $500 million to expand its operations in Puerto Rico. The company is launching the plan to enlarge its production facilities in Juana Diaz and to establish a global manufacturing site in Ponce, further affirming its four-decade commitment to the island.
“Our $500 million investment signals a commitment to customers, to our 2,000 local employees who are part of the great CooperVision family, and especially to the people of Puerto Rico, where we have operated and prospered since 1984. The planned investments represent a significant expansion of our global manufacturing footprint and continued positive impact on the island’s economy,” said CooperVision executive vice president of global operations Rolando Torres, during a press conference where he was joined by secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce Manuel Cidre Miranda.
In Juana Diaz, the company will convert a 22,000-square-foot warehouse for production use, installing new, high-volume, automated contact lens manufacturing cells. A second initiative will add 120,000 square feet to the current manufacturing floor, accommodating additional new manufacturing cells for substantially increased local production volumes. The third project in Juana Diaz expands CooperVision’s main building by 100,000 square feet for warehousing and new packaging lines.
In Ponce, CooperVision is acquiring the former facilities of Roche Diagnostics, converting the location into a world-class, 115,000-square-foot hub that expands capacity to manufacture innovative soft contact lenses shipped globally, including MiSight day. Representing approximately $100 million of the total $500 million investment, the 14-acre site—with sustainable design and advanced technologies—is expected to employ 400 people in its initial operating phase. Currently available in more than 30 countries, MiSight day is the first and only soft contact lens approved by the U.S. FDA and China NMPA to slow the progression of myopia in children aged 8-12 at the initiation of treatment.
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“We continue to take strategic actions to maintain our global success and improve our competitiveness. The growth in local production volumes, capital investment, and job creation have been constant and forceful drivers for economic development in Puerto Rico. Today’s announcement accelerates this trajectory and deepens our longstanding commitment to the island,” said Torres. “Puerto Rico’s selection for the CooperVision expansion followed considerable study and analysis of multiple options, highlighting the extraordinary talent who lives here.”
In addition to its Puerto Rico sites, CooperVision operates major manufacturing centers in Costa Rica, Hungary, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in the United States.