VEM Medical (Clovis, Calif.), a tooling and molding supplier to the medical device industry, has expanded operations into Eastern Europe.

The wholly owned manufacturing plant is located in Bulgaria’s second-largest city, Plovdiv. Known as VEM Europe, the new operation provides injection mold tool fabrication and design services as well as mold maintenance and repairs. The 17,500 ft² building is equipped with manufacturing equipment from Germany, Switzerland and Japan.

“VEM has many European customers and we opened in Bulgaria in order to provide those customers with local manufacturing at the best price point,” said VEM Group president Marc Weinmann in a news release. “Our advantage is that VEM is a U.S.-owned company led by a highly experienced international management and engineering team. Combine that with best-in-class equipment and rigorous quality and VEM can deliver solutions to the toughest tooling and molding challenges.”