Sao Paulo, Brazil -- As reported in DOTmed News, Royal Philips Electronics has opened the first Magnetic Resonance manufacturing facility in Latin America to serve this important emerging market.

The company has shared a photo of MR production at the plant. Keep in mind that, beginning in November, the plant will also produce Computed Tomography devices. It will be the only site in Latin America manufacturing the two types of equipment, and one of only a few facilities manufacturing such devices in the world. The new production plant was built at the former site of VMI Sistemas Medicos, a Brazilian diagnostics equipment manufacturer acquired by Philips in 2007.

Three types of Magnetic Resonance devices will be manufactured in Brazil: the Intera 1.5T and Achieva 1.5T and 3.0T. Initially, 70 percent of the components for the devices will be imported, but Philips' intention is to increase the proportion of locally produced components to 60 percent by mid-2010. The company is currently identifying and equipping locally based factories to enable them to manufacture many of the highly advanced components used in the devices.
The delivery time of the products is set to be substantially reduced from eight months to 30 days. There will also be a reduction of around 15 percent on the final price of the Magnetic Resonance equipment due to a combination of reduced taxes and lowered production costs.

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