Cynosure, Hicksville medical device manufacturer, to close, lay off 30

Cynosure, a Hicksville medical-devices manufacturer that employs 30 people, is slated to close in January, according to a state regulatory notice. 

The production jobs will move to Massachusetts and Costa Rica, a statement from parent company Hologic Inc., which is based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, said. Employees have been offered severance pay and outplacement benefits, the statement said. 

Layoffs are scheduled to begin Dec. 14, and the plant is expected to close in January, according to the WARN notice.   

Cynosure  Inc. established a presence in Hicksville in 2014 after it purchased Ellman International Inc. for about $13.2 million in cash. Ellman, which became a division of Cynosure, is noted for developing and manufacturing radio-frequency technology and devices used by physicians, comestic surgeons and medical aestheticians for more precision during soft-tissue surgery.  The company developed Pellevé, a process that uses radio-wave technology to induce heat into the skin, stimulating collagen growth to tighten skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles, according to a 2010 Newsday article.

Hologic bought Cynosure in 2017. Hologic is now consolidating the radio-frequency work. 

"In order to optimize Cynosure’s manufacturing network, production of the radio-frequency products for medical aesthetics that was previously done at Hicksville is being transferred to existing Hologic facilities in Marlborough, and Costa Rica," the statement said.   

When Ellman was incorporated in the 1960s by Dr. Irving Ellman, it was a dental company, according to a 2001 Newsday article. After his death, the company branched into other medical specialties. 

At the time of its purchase in 2014,  Ellman had 100 employees, and Cynosure had said it expected to retain "substantially all" of the Ellman employees, a company statement issued after the purchase stated.  

Under New York’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN Act, companies with at least 50 full-time employees must file a 90-day notice of a mass layoff or closing.

The planned layoffs reflect the continued shrinking of Long Island's manufacturing sector. In June it had 71,300 jobs, compared with 72,300 a year earlier. The highest level of manufacturing employment on Long Island for the month of June was 141,300 in 1990, when the state Labor Department began using the current methodology.