JOHOR, MALAYSIA -- Flextronics' medical business unit will open a dedicated, 180,000 sq. ft. facility in Senai, the contract electronics assembler's second major expansion in a year.

The expansion will support a "significant rise in demand from medical OEMs," Flextronics said, while providing additional low-cost geographic diversity to meet customer needs.

The site, which is expected to be fully operational by April 2011, will provide printed circuit board assembly, plastic injection molding, and disposable device sub-assembly for medical devices and life sciences equipment.

Last year, Flextronics Medical added 600,000 sq. ft. of capacity in Shenzhen. Flextronics Medical expects the Senai site .

"We currently have a dedicated medical manufacturing facility in Singapore, and this new facility in Malaysia will allow us to leverage our infrastructure in the region while expanding our low-cost footprint to better serve our medical OEM customers," said Dan Croteau, president, Flextronics Medical.